In elections held on July 21, Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, convincingly won 115 of the 242 seats in the upper house of the National Diet, the national legislature. The victory gives the LDP a three-fold dominance: the seat of the prime minister and control of the two houses of government.
A realignment of this kind is significant, given Japan’s status as the world’s third-largest economy. But in terms of geopolitical maneuvering, the significance is amplified in important ways worth investigating.