Takaichi tipped for big win as Japan votesPollsters suggest Sanae Takaichi's coalition could secure a handy two-thirds majority, nearly a decade since her mentor Shinzo Abe achieved the featTOKYO - Japan votes in snap elections Sunday with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hoping to turn a honeymoon start into a resounding ballot box victory that could rile China and rattle financial markets. Takaichi has sounded tough on immigration, helping for now to slow the sharp rise of the populist "Japanese first" Sanseito party. Immigration screening "has already become a little stricter, so that terrorists, and also industrial spies, cannot enter easily", Takaichi said Saturday. Margarita Estevez-Abe, associate professor of political science at Syracuse University, said that the China episode raised Takaichi's popularity even more. "So the best scenario for Japan is that Takaichi kind of takes a deep breath and focuses on amending the relationship with China."

Source: Bangkok Post February 07, 2026 22:59 UTC