3 days ago
Japan's politics is entering a messy new era
Asia | Reign of confusion Illustration: Klawe Rzeczy Jul 14th 2025 | Tokyo | 6 min read
T HE DEBUT on TikTok by the Liberal Democratic Party ( LDP ), Japan's long-time ruling party, lacked what young people might call 'rizz'. Released last month, the 44-second video features Ishiba Shigeru, the 68-year-old prime minister, in a dark suit promising to lower petrol prices, while glancing down at paper notes. Prepare to be astounded: it was not a success.
His vision for the country remains thankfully unrealised
The country's elites won't like it
The generals would be mad to try
The trial, with a plot stranger than detective fiction, has gripped the country
We're looking for a fluent speaker of Korean and English
