JAPAN: PM Dissolves the Lower House & more – 29th Jan 2026

Konnichiwa from BA! This is the Rorshok Japan Update from the 29th of January twenty twenty-six. A quick summary of what's going down in Japan.

On Friday the 23rd, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi dissolved the Lower House in preparation for the upcoming election. Election campaigning began on Tuesday the 27th, with around 1,200 candidates running for the 465 open seats. Notably, a record high of almost 25% of candidates are women, the largest proportion at forty-three percent coming from the Sanseito party.

289 seats will be decided in single-seat districts, so the party that will end up as the majority will be decided by the remaining 176 seats.

Read more about this story with the link in the show notes!

While election day is on the 8th of February, those who can’t make it on the day of can instead cast their ballots during early voting, which began on Wednesday the 28th at embassies and consulates around the world as well as designated sites in Japan.

Voters are mostly concerned about rising prices, policies toward foreigners, and Japan’s stance toward other countries. Some experts say that voter turnout might be somewhat low because of how short the campaign period is and also because the weather isn’t great, which may make some reluctant to go to voting booths. So, many officials are encouraging voters to make use of early voting.

Meanwhile, false claims about Prime Minister Takaichi’s grandfather serving as an Imperial Japanese Army officer during Japan’s invasion of China in the second World War are spreading on Taiwanese social media. Taiwan FactCheck Center found coordinated posts—many linked to Chinese accounts—using the wrong name and an unrelated photo to make the lies look credible. Takaichi’s office denied the claims.

Online, a few said it was ridiculous for Takaichi to talk about the fake posts at all, as past prime ministers have received constant criticism but never made a big deal about it… but frankly, comparing fake posts that might hurt foreign policy with personal criticism might not make a lot of sense. In fact, most users said China was using the posts to make people in Taiwan hate Japan since Japan ruled over Taiwan from eighteen ninety-five until the end of World War II in nineteen forty-five.

On that note about China, and as a quick update to a story from a previous show, hundreds of fans gathered at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo to say goodbye to the four-year-old giant panda twins Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei as they were sent back to their home country, leaving Japan without any pandas for the first time in over fifty years.

The reaction online was a pretty mixed bag, with some in disbelief at fans waiting as long as three hours just to wave goodbye to a truck carrying the pandas, and some anti-China folk saying good riddance and why would Japan need China’s pandas anyway?

In more positive international news, Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force helped refuel Black Eagles, an aerobatic team from South Korea's defense force, in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan, on Wednesday the 28th. It marked the first time that Japan has provided refueling support to Korea's air force, and is part of the recent military cooperation between the two countries, which Takaichi and South Korea's president reaffirmed during a meeting we reported on two weeks ago.

That’s not all going on between Japan and overseas. A Hiroshima court in western Japan ordered the central Japanese government to pay three million yen, which is 21,500 dollars, in damages to relatives of South Korean atomic bomb victims.

The government had previously said it didn’t have to pay damages because the statute of limitations was already up, but the court rejected that argument. The court ruled the government abused its rights by denying compensation for failing to provide healthcare allowances to those who were overseas, reaffirming earlier judgments that such exclusions were illegal.

A recent editorial published in the Asahi Shimbun was highly critical of Mie Prefecture’s plans to basically exclude foreigners from the community. Recall from previous shows that the Mie Governor was thinking of no longer hiring foreign nationals for general administrative jobs in government, saying he was worried about government security. He said he would decide after getting the results of a voter survey that started on Monday the 26th.

The editorial argued that this could fuel discrimination against foreigners, and that the whole reason the nationality requirements were dropped in nineteen ninety-nine was to promote inclusion. The article also pointed out that safeguards against information leaks should apply to all employees regardless of nationality. Some local leaders and rights groups oppose the governor’s plan, saying it runs counter to Japan’s broader push toward multicultural inclusion and fair treatment of foreign residents.

Check out the full article in English with the link in the show notes!

In other news, Tokyo police arrested Shinichi Sato, a sixty-two-year-old University of Tokyo medical professor, on suspicion of taking bribes linked to a joint research project. Police believe Sato received almost two million yen, which is 12,000 dollars, in entertainment at upscale clubs and brothels on over thirty occasions between twenty twenty-three and twenty twenty-four. In exchange, he allegedly did favors related to cannabis-based research.

Investigations are also underway into a representative who allegedly provided the bribes and a former associate professor involved in the project.

On a somber note, twenty twenty-five marked the second annual record high in a row in child suicides, with 532 deaths, according to government data published on Thursday the 29th.

Suicides among minors have stayed above 500 annually since the COVID-19 pandemic, with most cases involving high school students. The most common reasons for suicide were school-related and health issues. However, overall suicides declined to just over 19,000 for the first time since nineteen eighty.

Many online weighed in, sharing their condolences and sparking conversations about measures that can be taken to help children who are struggling. A few spoke of young suicides they personally knew of, many of which involved bullying, suggesting that anti-bullying policies might help.

Also on Thursday the 29th, the Tokyo government issued a new influenza advisory after flu cases rose again, marking the first such reissue in seventeen years within the same season. Hospitals said that they were getting way more patients than they should be holding, likely due to holiday travel and schools reopening after winter break. Officials are encouraging people to take preventive measures like washing hands, disinfecting, and wearing masks.

In business news, Canon, the camera, lens, and printer-making company, announced on Thursday the 29th that CEO Fujio Mitarai will resign—not for any dramatic reasons, but just because he’s ninety and would like to retire. Executive Vice President Kazuto Ogawa will take over.

In travel-related news, the train company JR East said on Friday the 23rd that human error caused the power outage that halted one of Tokyo’s busiest train lines for about eight hours on the 16th of January, affecting around 670,000 commuters. The company said a safety device used during overnight construction was not properly released before they turned the power back on.

Since a similar mistake caused a December outage on a different line, JR East said it is considering better methods to prevent future mistakes, including double-checking procedures and improved responses to restore service faster if something does happen.

Closing this episode, Kazuhito Yamashita, a world-renowned classical guitarist, died on Saturday the 24th at age sixty-four. A child prodigy from Nagasaki, southwestern Japan, he achieved international fame as a teenager by winning major guitar competitions and later gained global acclaim for solo performances of large orchestral works on a single guitar. Yamashita performed with leading orchestras worldwide, researched folk music, and even promoted South American composers like Heitor Villa-Lobos.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

Mata Ne!