New Political Movement in Japan with Near-Zero Media Coverage

There is only one article online (both in Japanese and in English) which covers the movement in any depth. Please find the link below. I am also adding some context for non-Japanese readers. I hope you find it interesting.

Article: https://www.chosyu-journal.jp/kokusai/12245

Photo: Chosyu Journal

Context:

Reiwa Shinsengumi is the biggest and most exciting political movement in Japan over the last 30 years. In just a few months, the new party has received over 3 million USD in donations from tens of thousands of ordinary people in Japan.

Yet, there is only a single major article in English or Japanese which talks about the new party and its candidates in detail. In other words, mainstream media is silent.

Japan has been in recession for a staggering 20 years. No other major country on this planet has experienced such a long-lasting recession in the same period. The latest polls show that 57.7% of Japanese households are struggling to make ends meet. Over 40% of individuals in their thirties and forties have zero in savings. Half of all workers are temp, contract, or gig workers. There were over 20,000 actual suicides and an additional 500,000 attempted suicides two years ago. One in seven children live in poverty. One in three single mothers live in poverty.

In the 70's and 80's, voter turnout was hovering around 70%. Today, that has dropped to below 55%. People over 50 years old maintain a turnout rate of 60% or higher even today, but people under that age have become utterly disillusioned with politics and are no longer voting, with turnout even going below 30%. The LDP establishment did help the economy grow until the 80's, but today we need an alternative. In the absence of any alternative, I can understand why younger people feel hopelessness and despair.

That is changing now thanks to the emergence of Reiwa Shinsengumi. As you can see, none of the candidates are professional politicians. Many come from the so-called "Lost Generation." They each have a very personal story to tell.

Yet the Japanese establishment media are continuing to silence this new movement. They report only about the traditional parties such as the LDP, the Democratic Party, and Komeito. The only media outlet who did a detailed and fair coverage of Reiwa Shinsengumi turns out to be a small, independent newspaper called Choshu Journal. They do not receive any ad revenue or corporate money. They run solely on subscription fees and donations from their readers. Their motto is: "We can say anything against the powers that be."

If you like Japanese animation, temples, shrines, Japanese food, Ghibli, Naomi Osaka, Kurosawa, comic books, Haruki Murakami, calligraphy, martial arts, you name it, then perhaps you might also feel some of the joy and energy which the Japanese people are experiencing at the moment when they see such a new movement rising.