Japan’s firewall against populism

This is not another article about the spread of populism. Rather, it’s an article about how to avoid it. As populism infects democracies across the globe, Japan remains perplexingly immune. What accounts for its resistance to the virus? The conundrum is more peculiar given Japan’s almost three decades of economic malaise, its ageing population and precarious security situation.

Despite North Korean missiles, stagnant wages and a growing generation gap, there has been no significant economic or cultural backlash against Japan’s political status quo. The reason, as Doshisha University professor Gill Steel explains, is that ‘the factors pushing populism elsewhere are less evident in Japan’. Unemployment and crime are low, while cultural homogeneity and societal consensus are high. Inequality, while on the rise, is relatively low compared to the US and Britain. As a result, there is little demand for populist alternatives to the establishment.

Although more often a consequence of accident than design, Japan’s and bestselling video games boast a rainbow of diverse characters, real Japanese society perpetuates myths of biological and cultural uniformity.