WebinarWednesday 17 June 2026
12:00pm – 1:15pm (UK) / 8:00pm – 9:15pm (Japan)
Japanese Politics under the Takaichi Administration
Online webinar, accessible remotely via Zoom
Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation
Book your placePrime Minister Sanae Takaichi has marked six months in office after becoming Japan’s first female Prime Minister last October. While her approval rating among the population remains high, it is uncertain whether she can sustain this level of support in months to come. Factors such as inflation and economic and energy security may play a key role in determining this.
In this webinar, moderated by Prof. John Nilsson-Wright, Professor Izuru Makihara of the University of Tokyo will analyse the first six months of the Takaichi administration, including her leadership and policy initiatives, as well as the major challenges she faces. The speaker will also examine the reasons behind her high approval ratings, and the future of Japanese politics.
About the contributors
Izuru Makihara
Izuru Makihara is a Professor at the University of Tokyo’s Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology. His research focuses on the political history and bureaucracy of postwar Japan. He also analyses contemporary Japanese politics using oral history methods and comparisons with developed countries. He holds a B.A. in Law and a PhD from the University of Tokyo. He has been a research scholar at the LSE and a visiting Fellow at Clare Hall, University of Cambridge.
John Nilsson-Wright
John Nilsson-Wright (formerly Swenson-Wright) is the Fuji Bank Professor of Japanese Politics and the International Relations of East Asia at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (FAMES) at the University of Cambridge and an Official Fellow at Darwin College. He is a graduate of Christ Church and St. Antony’s Colleges, Oxford, and SAIS Johns Hopkins University. He was Head of the Chatham House Asia Programme from March 2014 to October 2016 and has also been the Senior Research Fellow for Northeast Asia and Korea Foundation Fellow with Chatham House’s Asia-Pacific Programme.