Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party and its parliamentary allies are poised to win a supermajority after Sunday's election. Takaichi, Japan's first female prime minister (see It's Official: Japan Elects First-Ever Woman Prime Minister – RedState), is expected to control 348 of the 465 seats either directly or through the LDP's alliance with the Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation) Party. In fact, the LDP is estimated to have gained 115 seats, giving it a supermajority without relying on a coalition government.
This gives Takaichi a supermajority (310 seats constitute a supermajority), allowing the LDP to pass legislation even if vetoed by the House of Councillors, the upper house of the Japanese parliament, where the LDP and allies control 120 of 248 seats.
So it is, the die has been cast.
— Rokko🇯🇵🌐💻 ✈︎ (@Msamalam) February 8, 2026
LDP has won the largest majority in postwar Japan, they are even likely to reach 2/3 majority, which allows them to revise the constitution.
No more excuses of the opposition pulling their leg. LDP will be free to reign as they please. pic.twitter.com/bPhUTXXojK
The leading "centrist" party, Chudo Kaikaku Rengo, or Centrist Reform Alliance, should have listened to Jim Hightower, who famously said, "There's nothing in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos." Chudo was vaporized, losing 123 seats while imitating said dead armadillo.
When Takaichi took office in October 2025, Japanese politics were moribund. The Japanese economy was sluggish, Japan was nearing a demographic death spiral, and it seemed a matter of time before China cowed Japan into submission. Making matters worse, the LDP had been the ruling party, directly or in coalition, since 1958. That brought complacency and corruption. At some point along the way, Japan's equivalent of Chuck Schumer and Mark Warner had decided that bringing in Chinese and Muslim immigrants was a great way to alleviate Japan's labor shortage. I mean, importing disloyal minorities is much easier than making babies, amirite? Along the way, Japanese institutions and people lost faith in themselves and in Japanese culture.
The cut of her jib didn't suit long-time LDP coalition partner, the Buddhist-based social conservative party Komeito, and it resigned from the LDP coalition. To maintain a majority in Japan, Takaichii quickly turned to the small populist center-right party, the Japan Innovation Party.
Takaichi's bold style and obvious belief in Japan and all things Japanese hit a dormant nerve with the country. Her approval rating soared, and in January 2026 she called snap elections for February 8; see The Land of the Rising Sun Heads to the Polls – RedState.
Economics was a major factor, with Takaichi advocating consumption tax cuts. So was defense. Takaichi wants to increase Japan's defense spending, build closer ties with Taiwan, and reinvigorate Japan's alliance with the U.S. Another major issue is an open immigration policy that has changed the character of Japanese society, with parts of the country becoming Chinese and Muslim enclaves.
Takaichi's brand of hawkishness on the PRC and illegal immigration combined with fiscal stimulus seems to have rocketed to a commanding supermajority. https://t.co/EPr5wwuZLI
— Fred Bauer (@fredbauerblog) February 8, 2026
Her newfound power, if necessary, brings with it the ability to rewrite the Japanese Constitution. She may not do that for many good reasons, but it gives her a clean break from the failed policies that got Japan to where it is today.
Make no mistake about it, if Takaichi can sustain the momentum that brought her here, this is a tectonic shift in Japanese politics and a tsuname in the WESTPAC.
Takaichi now has the mandate to move Japan beyond the post-WWII system and back onto the world stage with a new identity. Her campaign slogan was: “Make the Japanese archipelago strong and prosperous.” All she needed to do was add "again," and President Trump would've had a solid copyright infringement case.
Musch as we're seeing play out in slow motion. Takaichi's landslide represents a total collapse of the post-World War II order. Free trade with cheating co-parties is out. Military power is in. National decision-making is replacing weak, flaccid organizational groupthink. A national leader's first duty is to his or her country, not to Davos and the think-tank crew.
This comes at a very unfortunate time for China. China has been propping up its "official" economic metrics. Its labor force is stuck in the "middle class squeeze" of developing countries that try to build prosperity on cheap labor. Wages are flat. Buying power is down. Factories are moving to Vietnam and Cambodia, where labor is still cheap. China's GDP is shored up by massive public works projects building trains no one uses between cities where no one lives. China's demographic death spiral is in full flower, and the crap that is their banking system is about to hit the fan. Pile on top of that the political stability that bubbles to the surface on occasion; see New Round of Purges Wrack the Chinese People's Liberation Army and Defense Establishment – RedState and China Accuses Fired General of One-Upping General Mark Milley: He Gave Nuclear Secrets to the CIA – RedState; and you have a perfect storm brewing.
A confident, resurgent Japan that sees China for what it is can anchor a powerful regional coalition that forces China to spend money it doesn't want to and stops some of China's aggression in the South China Sea.
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