Understanding Japan’s Snap Elections: A Q&A With Mami Mizutori

On February 8, Japanese voters will head to the polls for their third national election in fifteen months. This is unusual even by Japanese standards, where national elections are held more frequently than in other democracies. In addition, Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae, the first female prime minister in the entire history of Japanese modern politics, made the decision to dissolve the Diet and call for a snap election after having been in that position for barely three months. According to the polls, she was enjoying an extremely high support rate of around 70 percent when she made this decision. What prompted her to go forward? Is this a big gamble? Perry World House spoke with PWH Distinguished Visiting Fellow Mami Mizutori about the upcoming elections and their implications for Japanese policy and politics.