A far-right populist party in Japan is courting allies of Donald Trump as it builds on its recent electoral gains.

Sanseito uprooted Japan’s political foundations when it won 14 new seats in the House of Councillors election in July, “shattering the long-standing belief that modern Japan is immune to populism ”, said news agency Anadolu .

Now hardline nationalist leader Sanae Takaichi has won the leadership election for Japan’s ruling party the Liberal Democratic Party, paving for a possible pact between the ruling party and Sanseito. But the Maga-inspired party “faces a distinctly Japanese quandary of how to upend the status quo in a society that prizes politeness and consensus”, said Reuters .

Spooking the mainstream

Sanseito was one of the election’s “biggest winners”, and it

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