Hard times and migrant fears lure voters to jump on Japan-first bandwagon

A far-right party leader who models himself on Donald Trump and rails against foreigners is expected to win seats in today's election.

- By Rupert Wingfield-Hayes

A foreign buyer illegally clears a chunk of forest in a Hokkaido national park to build himself a mansion. A foreign driver knocks down a group of schoolchildren and flees the scene. Foreigners are buying up blocks of flats in Tokyo and doubling rents.

These are a few of the sensational news stories that have been hitting the headlines as Japanese people prepare to go to the polls today.

They are feeding into an already febrile atmosphere of anti-foreigner sentiment that could decide the outcome of the election for the upper house. Hostility to an increase in immigration, particularly from China, is being jumped on and amplified by a new far-right political party, Sanseitō, whose slogan is "Japanese first" and whose leader, Sohei Kamiya, openly models himself on Donald Trump.

His party platform calls for "protecting Japan's unique cultural heritage, restricting immigration and stopping welfare payments to immigrants". So far, Kamiya is the party's only councillor in the upper house of the parliament, the national Diet, but Sanseitō could get between 10 and 15 seats in the weekend elections.