Money for Nothing and Votes for Free: Can Takaichi navigate Japan’s Dire Straits?

In this paper, we discuss:

• Takaichi’s landslide victory, securing a lower-house supermajority and revitalising the scandal-hit LDP;
• An expansionary fiscal agenda, including temporary tax cuts, that has lifted equities but unsettled bond markets;
• Her nationalist and assertive foreign policy stance toward China, strengthening US ties while risking economic retaliation from Beijing;
• The political durability of “Sana-Mania,” and whether fiscal strain, demographics, and constitutional reform debates could test her mandate.

Download PDF: Japan Elections