I am willing to wager that most westerners have no idea what the political structure is in Japan.
this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2026
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Asklemmy
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A couple years ago I saw some articles talking about the Japanese princess moving to America to live a normal life with her family.
My main takeaway was: "Japan has a royal family?"
Yeah same. From dabblings into WWII figure I knew that Japan had an emperor during WWII but I didnโt know anything about the position. I sort of assumed it fizzled out after WWII.
I know they have a pretty brutal work culture, which suggests a dismal political landscape, but that's about it. That seems like a pretty typical knowledge level for westerners, so you're probably right.
They also have a batshit judicial culture and women apparently never get justice and most courts are a kind of semi-scripted kangaroo court.
Ace Attorney was specifically made as a parody of Japan's courts IIRC.
Western media acknowledges the worst excesses of neoliberalism as a gesture towards reformism, it will never expose the underlying structure that makes brutal unrestrained looting the driving force of today's world
And sometimes they make controversial super bowl half time shows to give the optics of resistance the placate the masses calling for it.
or could locate Japan on a map.
Is there any reason they need to?
55% voter turnout (66mil of 121mil)
lpd got 49% of votes (27mil)
ldp got 22% of the populations vote (27mil of 121mil)
They get 77% of the seats (316 of 465)
Western media: super majority, the people love her!
quick math i did from results as listed on wikipedia
communist party (eurocom losers) won tokyo seat, but lost 4 of their previous 8 seats, never see them mentioned in the west tho
Also havent seen any coverage of how well the hitlerite party did, 15 seats to the guy who's always talking about Jewish capital
What could go wrong?
Yes, where can I read more?
No, the opposition did win an election a few years ago! They performed horribly, but it is in fact a functional democracy. Just one that prefers to function within one party.
Japan oscillates between far-right politics exclusively, the working class has little organizing and struggle going on and the state is thoroughly controlled by private intetests. The Republic of Korea may be an example of a capitalist dictatorship controlled by 3 companies in a trench-coat, but has active labor struggles and a history of millitant unions, at least.
Insane to talk about preferences deciding this like they haven't been stabbing dudes to the right of Bernie SSanders
Yep, Japan has no working class movement and is thus entirely controlled by the far-right.
Imagine believing that having two parties is what makes a country a functional democracy
Imagine having only two parties. Wild.
I love when I participate in free and fair elections against the unlimited superrape party fuelled by the Axis Gold-Backed Phantom Hirohito Pacific GLADIO Index and the population expresses their preferences for limited bourgeous democracy with monarchist characteristics.
a few years ago
Like 15+ years ago.
They performed horribly
I mean, this is all a matter of opinion. They promised stuff they couldn't do - like everybody else. They gave us a revolving door of PMs - like the LDP, the party that won all the other elections, does as well. I think what broke their back was having to deal with a big earthquake, massive tsunami, and exploding nuclear reactors. The LDP can consider itself lucky they weren't in charge then so the stink of failure to deal with an impossible crisis didn't attach to them. They really aren't the more capable politicians.
Cool Japan Initiative has payed lots of dividends.
I know the new leader is a fascist and dismantled their version of congress. Or maybe cabinet ?
I'm unclear on their government organization.
Otherwise I don't know much. But can't say it's looking good.
Everywhere is going down this road, South Korea just jumped the gun.
In a word, yes