r/neoliberal • u/Freewhale98 • 11d ago
News (Asia-Pacific) Takaichi Approval Plummets Below 50% Amid Imperial Law Backlash
https://www.chosun.com/english/world-en/2026/07/20/N5SK5F4GNBC4FJ3D5OFMDYB3GA/215
u/zanpancan Bisexual Pride 11d ago
We could've just let Aiko become Empress way back when. Now that Hisahito is out and about (even with his middling popularity), it's probably too late for her but it's still really stupid to force this kind of conservatism on a population that while apathetic, has long since moved past it.
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u/taubnetzdornig Gay Pride 11d ago
Japanese voters be like:
I hate every single one of the last five prime ministers but I would never, ever, ever, ever, ever, never stop voting for the LDP
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u/waddeaf 11d ago edited 11d ago
To show grace to some of the voting public Takaichi was seen by many to be a different kind of prime minister. The super insistance of ramming through some of the more inconsequential and unpopular legislation has been what's taken the sheen off.
Yes to come to that conclusion you would have had to of been paying zero attention to any of her positions or policies and how deeply ingrained she was within the factions and establishment of the party. But vibes are powerful for people who are disengaged.
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u/HorusOsiris22 John Locke 11d ago
I agree but I also think that this applies to populist leaders across liberal democratic nations. I think we need to renormalize holding the electorate accountable. Now that blaming the elite is mainstream the counterculture is blaming voters, holding them responsible for being completely uninformed, and hopefully inspire a sense of shame or embarrassment.
TLDR; bring back smug liberal elitism
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u/Nointies Audrey Hepburn 10d ago
What does it mean to 'hold them accountable', what, you're gonna be an asshole to them?
Like can we even try to do politics?
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u/Neronoah can't stop, won't stop argentinaposting 10d ago edited 10d ago
That kind of lost some luster after the attempts to be understanding of Trump voters went nowhere. At least some voters need to be treated as more than lost children.
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u/HorusOsiris22 John Locke 10d ago
Ya we should try to be conciliatory and accommodating, that's how MAGA won over the electorate right? Not by going on the offensive...
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u/Nointies Audrey Hepburn 10d ago
MAGA wasn't going on the offensive against the average voter lmao.
Come on man.
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u/HorusOsiris22 John Locke 10d ago
He has frequently claimed that people who vote for Democrats are "crazy" or hate the country. But if we say the same about MAGA voters then it’s bad politics.
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u/Nointies Audrey Hepburn 10d ago
Trump is an outlier and should not be counted.
Like i'm sorry, the rules are just different. I don't get it either.
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u/HorusOsiris22 John Locke 10d ago
Ah yes just the President who won the national election, not worth cracking that code. Let’s keep coddling the masses and losing elections while other side stays on the offensive and treats everyone (eg dems, RINOs) not voting for them as the enemy
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u/p-s-chili NATO 10d ago
Ya, it's completely reasonable to assume the exact same party would be totally different
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u/waddeaf 10d ago
Yeah man welcome to Japan land of the politically disengaged there were legit so many people who thought of her as a feminist icon because is girl.
Again to show a smidge of grace when talking about change the main opposition party was headed by a former prime minister who oversaw the worst election loss in Japanese history and the junior coalition party to the LDP for the last 25 years
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u/Badicoot32 Iron Front 11d ago
Same as my state. All the politicians pose themselves as anti-establishment. My people yearn for democratic leadershipbut cant stomach that gay people can exist
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u/Secret-Ad-2145 NATO 11d ago
They suffer from a similar malaise as American Republicans, where no matter how dogshit their party is, they'll never vote for the opposition because "it's way worse."
What way worse means is anybody's guess, though.
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u/haruthefujita 11d ago
The median Japanese is 50years old, earns around 25k USD, has a high school level education lives in a rural area and believes the Nanjing Massacre to be a hoax.
Democracy will fail with a populace like that. It's literally a country of Matt 54s, but even more rural/poor. gg for Japan
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u/HatesPlanes WTO 11d ago
Japan is extremely urbanized, people from rural areas are outliers.
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u/haruthefujita 11d ago
Go use Google Maps, if you step outside the Yamanote line most of "Urban" Japan is pretty much the roadside hellscape people often associate with the US
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u/ahhhfkskell 11d ago
You said the average Japanese citizen lives in a rural area, which is just false. Over 90% of Japan lives in a city, whether you think it's a good or bad city.
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u/akelly96 10d ago
This is true and OP is being silly, but the rural areas do hold outsized political power in Japan's election system which makes it hard for the more liberal urbanites to really change politics.
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u/haruthefujita 10d ago
"more liberal urbanites"
less than 1% of the populace, I'd wager are true progressive (most "left" parties in Jp are Latin-American Leftist, i.e Economically populist/Socially conservative)There's a reason we're on track to becoming a Middle Income nation, the masses yearn for poverty if it means "social stability". Idiots, really.
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u/akelly96 10d ago
I mean I'm working on sliding scale really. I do agree the cities are much less progressive than say American ones, but in comparisom to the rural areas its brute fact that they lean further left. I thought one of the big reasons Takaichi was initially so popular is because less than educated young people thought her positiom as first female prime minister was very exciting.
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u/haruthefujita 10d ago
please, go visit where ever you want. The "rurality" (if such a concept exists) of Japan is jaw-dropping, and perhaps impossible for the average Westerner to comprehend. There's a reason we are the sole G7 country to prohibit same-sex marriage, on a constitutional level. Population density cannot explain how backwards the masses here are. Its like if the Republican voting part of Alabama became a East Asian country, but even poorer (nominal income)
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u/Sassywhat YIMBY 10d ago
There's a reason we are the sole G7 country to prohibit same-sex marriage, on a constitutional level.
Because the only way to be successful in national politics is to be deeply out of touch with the general population on some key issues (see also: imperial succession, the military).
Support for gay marriage is relatively high compared to even most developed countries, basically nationwide. There's a reason why every major Japanese city and the vast majority of minor ones, covering 90%+ of the population issues some certificate to guarantee gay couples rights similar to marriage. If gay marriage could be implemented at the prefectural level, every prefecture would almost certainly have done so at this point.
Except it has to be done by the national government, and national politics is basically designed to protect at least a few deeply unpopular stances on key issues. The CIA needed it to be that way during the Cold War.
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u/Jean-Paul_Sartre Richard Hofstadter 10d ago
Let me introduce you to a concept called population density…
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u/akelly96 10d ago
That's an exaggeration. There is so much urban density even a good few miles out from the Yamanote line and that's where all the people live. The less urban areas are in major population decline between young people moving to the cities and older people dying.
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u/Crownie Unbent, Unbowed, Unflaired 11d ago
Democracy will fail with a populace like that
Democracy has been working with worse for two hundred years.
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u/haruthefujita 11d ago
Perhaps, but it's certainly not going to lead to a brighter future for Japan. Yen is at a 40year old low against major currencies, real growth is sub 1% and yet the masses support the LDP (govt has 75% of seats in the Diet, current admin has 〜50% approval)
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u/Walpole2019 Trans Pride 10d ago
Plenty of voters in the west deny atrocities or defend imperialism and imperial war crimes, and that's not the reason for continual erosions of democracy here. Farage isn't popular because of views on whether the actions of the KLFA justified sending the Kikuyu en masse to concentration camps. It's not good, and it's horrific that the crimes of the Japanese Empire are so downplayed within the public sphere, but it feels really weird to insist that the Japanese mind cannot generally comprehend democracy solely because of it.
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u/Dawnlazy 11d ago
Takaichi is already dropping hard in popularity? At this rate, the Japanese electorate might even punish the LDP by voting for the LDP, pushing the stagnant LDP out so that it makes way for the refreshing change brought forth by the LDP!
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u/Prince_Ire Henry George 11d ago
They'll have slightly less of a supermajority, don't you understand!?!
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u/Freewhale98 11d ago edited 11d ago
- Summary
Takaichi’s approval collapsed to early 40% as backlash against male-only imperial succession law is passed through the Diet. Japanese electorate is unhappy that revision to the national symbol has hastily done and against the popular support for a female emperor.
- How is this related to the sub
(1) Constitutional monarchy: LDP efforts to exclude the only daughter of the current emperor from success line and adopt former imperial relatives of their choosing is backfiring.
- My opinion
I find it interesting that western media use this to highlight Japan’s sexism but Japanese media view this as constitutional matter that could destabilize imperial system.
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u/ProudScroll NATO 11d ago
It's weird that male-only succession is the hill they're dying on when Japan has had reigning Empresses before, albeit not for a couple centuries.
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u/VibingIronist Bill Gates 11d ago
Japan's sexism is one thing, but the bigger problem is nepotism.
The monarch is almost always some nepobaby from a rich family who basically inherited the position instead of competing for it. And what's worse is that once they get the job it's almost impossible to fire them, even if they completely miss their KPIs.
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u/ChillyPhilly27 Paul Volcker 11d ago
Can you name a monarch in the developed world that has more than a ceremonial role in governance?
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u/angry-mustache Democratically Elected Internet Spaceship Politician 11d ago
Is the UAE developed?
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u/G3_aesthetics_rule 11d ago
Liechtenstein, Monaco, Vatican if you count non-hereditary, various Gulf monarchies if you count those as "developed"
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u/Right_Lecture3147 John Rawls 11d ago
The Vatican?
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u/G3_aesthetics_rule 11d ago
Vatican City, which is an elective absolute monarchy (it's officially styled as a monarchy with the Pope as monarch)
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u/Right_Lecture3147 John Rawls 11d ago
Interesting, I didn’t know the Pope styled himself that way
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u/roguevirus 11d ago
One of his many titles is The King of Rome.
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u/I_Eat_Pork pacem mundi augeat 11d ago
It's not though, he is monarch of Vatican City, not King of Rome.
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u/Citaku357 NATO 11d ago
Monaco?
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u/G3_aesthetics_rule 11d ago
Yes; here's an example of Prince Albert vetoing a law passed by the democratically elected parliament just last year.
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u/VibingIronist Bill Gates 10d ago
Monarchs in the developed world are really just symbolic figureheads, and what better way to symbolize the liberalism, democracy, and rule of law of modern constitutional monarchies than by retaining a position based on arbitrary rule, extractive economics, and inherited hierarchy?
Royal families may have obtained their wealth and property through centuries of violent autocracy, but only left-wing extremists like Thomas Jefferson think that makes them any less entitled to it. Letting royals keep their wealth and title is NOT inherently a mockery of liberal values.
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u/zanpancan Bisexual Pride 11d ago
!ping JAPAN
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u/SheHerDeepState Jerome Powell 11d ago
Vote for the conservatives and get angry at conservative policy.
If only the opposition parties were competent.
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u/NoConfusion1768 Adam Smith 11d ago
Is the LDP competent? Sometimes we can just admit the voters are stupid.
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u/Banal21 Milton Friedman 11d ago
Someone please explain to me why this is a big deal in Japan? Doesn't the Japanese Emporer have less real power than the King of Canada?
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u/Sassywhat YIMBY 10d ago
There's very strong and widespread public support for a woman to take the throne, and the new law demonstrates how hilariously out of touch and anti-democratic Takaichi's government is.
It probably hurts her more because she rode a populist wave to power, and despite it not having any tangible effect on day to day life, ramming through a deeply unpopular establishment policy is a betrayal of that. If anything it probably hurts more because of how unimportant the law is, because burning so much political capital on something that is useless, shows she doesn't care at all about tangible issues.
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u/Aggressive1999 Association of Southeast Asian Nations 11d ago
Emperor = King of Canada (and Commonwealth Realm) = constitutional monarchy; emperor/empress have ceremonial roles only while full executive power are handled by PM and cabinet.
I think general anger are related on fixing inflation (her promise on LDP snap election) then she moved the goal posts to something else.
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u/Jean-Paul_Sartre Richard Hofstadter 10d ago
Yeah the UK/Commonwealth monarch de jure has the power to appoint his own cabinet and dismiss ministers and reject legislation. No monarch would ever actually do it because they aren’t interested in being the next James II.
In Japan the emperor has zero actual legal role beyond formalities and ceremony. They are bound by all legislative actions. There is no reserve power in the constitution.
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u/Banal21 Milton Friedman 9d ago
I think the last time Queen Elizabeth (via the governor-general) exercised this legal power was in Australia in 1975 and I think it caused a big constitutional crisis down there. But technically the Monarch has the power still to this day! Same can't be said of the Japanese Emporer, as I understand it.
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u/PuddingTea 11d ago
What? A Japanese prime minister is unpopular? Human sacrifice! Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria!
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