Saturday, July 12, 2025

Japan's MAGA: Sanseito

Sanseito. Slogan: Japanese First. Vaccine conspiracy theories- ✓. Anti-foreigner-✓. Example: Party rhetoric purposely muddies the difference between the government's guest worker program (5-year visa) to combat the country's severe labor shortage, and immigration, which in Japan is unpopular and definitely not a thing anyway. Sanseito is on the rise, currently no. 2 in polling in the upcoming contest. The local candidate in the 7/20 election is Hirai Eriko. Like Hirai、I have 3 kids, though 'half', in Japanese parlance. My, children, born and raised here- does Sanseito consider them Japanese, or second class, to pure Japanese stock? Oh, Eriko-様、my eldest is a brain surgeon at a public hospital in Japan, treating Japanese with severe neurological conditions. And, he and his Japanese wife have a new baby (you know, the birth-rate thing). And my younger kids are adults, employed, paying taxes, and otherwise contributing to society. 'Half' as they are, do they fit into Sanseito's master plan, Eriko-様? Anyhow, a troubling development, particularly as other parties are rushing to board that bus.

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