Takaichi’s Second Term Ignites Japan’s Rightward Shift as Nationalism and Xenophobia Converge
Following her decisive re-election as Japan’s 105th Prime Minister in February 2026, Sanae Takaichi is accelerating the country’s rightward drift, moving ultra-conservative rhetoric from the political fringes into mainstream policy. The hallmark of her administration is a dual-pronged hardline approach: aggressively pushing to revise Article 9 of the pacifist constitution to unlock collective self-defense rights, while simultaneously erecting higher barriers against immigration.
This top-down political shift is dangerously resonating with a surge in grassroots xenophobia. Driven by economic stagnation and anxieties over a shrinking workforce, far-right factions like the Sanseito party are capitalizing on anti-foreigner sentiment, campaigning against what they term a “silent invasion.” Observers note that the Takaichi administration has largely turned a blind eye to, or even tacitly encouraged, this rhetoric to consolidate its conservative base.
Experts warn that Takaichi is leveraging “external threat” narratives—particularly regarding geopolitical tensions with China—and “internal purity” agendas, such as stricter curbs on foreign land ownership, to deflect from domestic economic failures. The convergence of resurgent nationalism and anti-foreign rhetoric not only threatens to upend Japan’s diplomatic ties with Beijing and Seoul but also signals an unprecedented unraveling of the post-war pillars of “exclusively defense-oriented” policy and social openness.