Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is seeking to leverage her popularity to help her party win Sunday’s snap election as she pushes her right-wing agenda to boost her country's economy and military capabilities in the face growing tensions with

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is calling a snap election Sunday, counting on her unusual popularity among fans who see the hardline conservative as someone who speaks her mind and can bring change.

The party has right-wing social views: it calls the second world war the “Greater East Asian War”, adopting the nomenclature of the wartime regime, and has submitted a bill to criminalise desecration of Japan’s flag (an idea also favoured by Takaichi Sanae,

As of Wednesday, 15 prefectures have been affected, with snow reaching up to 2 meters (6.5 feet) in worst-hit areas. The unusually heavy snowfall is largely due to a cold air mass from the Arctic that has lingered over the Japanese archipelago.

Snowfall in parts of Japan has also left about 200 people injured. One city recorded 72 inches of snow, the highest in almost 40 years.

The conservative prime minister bet her seat in a snap election Sunday she hopes will cement her power—and move Japan closer to the U.S.

TSMC has unveiled plans to produce 3-nanometre semiconductors in Japan, as the world’s largest chip manufacturer diversifies production of its cutting-edge chips.

In March 2025, the government of Japan announced initial guidelines for how they plan to evacuate 110,000 residents and 10,000 tourists from the Sakishima Islands. They have designated eight prefectures – the seven Kyūshu prefectures and Yamaguchi Prefecture – to accept internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the Sakishima Islands,