Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Japan Gives PM Takaichi a Super-Majority
Sanae Takaichi became the first female Japanese Prime Minister last year, after her Liberal Democratic Party suffered numerous scandals. She cited the cost of living and immigration as the two big issues facing Japan. This resonated with voters who liked her assertive yet optimistic tone. Ronald Reagan won his elections with a similar combination. The electorate rewarded her with the largest electoral victory in Japanese politics since the end of the Second World War. Out of 465 seats in the Japanese House of Representattives, the LDP won 316. This is the first super-majority in Japanese politics, and it allows the PM to reform just about everything including the constitution. That, however, is merely means not ends. She now has to find a new path for Japan in Asia and the world.
With the American government destroying the web of alliances that has made the world safer and prevented war to a degree, Japan has found itseslf cut loose from the US and its protections. Under any other American president, an attack on Japan would be treated like an attack on Hawaii. Yet Mr. Trump does not back up allies, e.g., the Kurds, the Danes. Japan is in a tough spot if it cannot find a way to work without the US backing it up.
The New York Times reported:
China has led a campaign to punish Japan in response to a comment Ms. Takaichi made on Taiwan, a self-governed democracy that Beijing claims is part of its territory. Ms. Takaichi told Parliament in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo.
The Chinese government showed no signs of backing down on Monday. Asked about Ms. Takaichi s election victory, Lin Jian, a spokesman for China’s foreign affairs ministry, said Japan should "follow the path of peaceful development instead of repeating past mistakes." He urged her to retract her comment on Taiwan.
The North Koreans are also in the neighborhood, and their missile and nuclear capabilities should cause every Japanese PM to address the potential of war on the Korean Peninsula. The Americans and Russians also play their games in the western Pacific, and no Japanese leader can ignore them.
Mr. Trump has created a multi-polar world, and in the western Pacific, that means Japan can not longer look to Washington for anything because the Americans are unreliable. So, what does Japan do? What are the new policies?
The Japanese constitution drafted by General Douglas MacArthur and occasionally amended since the end of the US occupation forbids Japan an offensive military capacity. Ms. Takaichi has the votes to start amending that, and this journal believes she has no choice but to try changing it. Even if the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the legislature where the LDP is not in the majority, blocks it, she has the votes to override their objections. She must replace much of what America used to provide.
Spending more on defense can jolt the economy and deliver jobs, but the bills must be paid with taxes. Otherwise, the Bank of Japan may intervene with higher interest rates to prevent inflation, but those same rates would weigh on job creation.
In short, PM Takaichi has positioned herself to lead Japan forward as a more independent nation. She has options to do many things her predecessors could not. What she chooses to do and what she does not do could determine the future of Japan for the next generation or two. Japan is too important in Asia to act like a small power, and the end of the American reliability will force it to be a regional power on its own. The hard part will be doing what needs to be done and bringing the Japanese electorate along for the ride.
She has no excuses. She has the votes. Now, the world must see the vision put into practice.
© Copyright 2026 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
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