{"id":85405,"date":"2025-07-23T09:10:06","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T00:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/?p=85405"},"modified":"2025-07-23T10:37:20","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T01:37:20","slug":"podcast-column-who-are-sanseito-and-why-are-they-thriving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/news\/85405","title":{"rendered":"[Podcast Column] Who Are Sanseito and Why Are They Thriving?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The first 8-episode series of Waseda University\u2019s English podcast \u201cRigorous Research, Real Impact\u201d is currently streaming for free on <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/61VF3lETynCBuXt1AxXjXK?si=3eba847f8061431e\">Spotify,<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/music.amazon.com\/podcasts\/e0aa1340-7af7-4227-9361-88eecc575214\/waseda-university-podcasts-rigorous-research-real-impact\">Amazon Music<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/waseda-university-podcasts-rigorous-research-real-impact\/id1777915569\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLeA0hDJkLYZDjs3b58eEZ1WnkvNJf9e9R\">YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Unlocking the Rise of Conspiracy Movements in Japan (Assistant Professor Robert Fahey)\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/7MKrAOtbJM8fdTdrmn8AmO?si=OXQ3Z-ZqStOWLH6WJb7rjg&#038;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In this column for the first series of the English podcast, we share an excerpt from episode 8 \u201cUnlocking the Rise of Conspiracy Movements in Japan\u201d featuring Dr. Robert Fahey as the guest and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fire\/gsaps\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies<\/a> Ph.D. candidate Romeo Marcantuoni as the MC. Marcantuoni asks Dr. Fahey to describe the niche political party <i>Sanseito\u00a0<\/i>and explain potential reasons for why it is thriving.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_83439\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/news\/83437\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-83439 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2025\/02\/WASEU_180_5_Post_04_Feb_2025-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2025\/02\/WASEU_180_5_Post_04_Feb_2025-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2025\/02\/WASEU_180_5_Post_04_Feb_2025-610x610.jpg 610w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2025\/02\/WASEU_180_5_Post_04_Feb_2025-2000x2000.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2025\/02\/WASEU_180_5_Post_04_Feb_2025-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2025\/02\/WASEU_180_5_Post_04_Feb_2025-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2025\/02\/WASEU_180_5_Post_04_Feb_2025-2048x2048.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2025\/02\/WASEU_180_5_Post_04_Feb_2025-290x290.jpg 290w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">You can read the full transcript by clicking the above episode banner.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>*This episode was first released in February of 2025.<\/p>\n<h2>MC Marcantuoni <strong>(16:19)<\/strong>: Could you walk us through what <em>Sanseito<\/em>\u00a0is and the specific conditions that allowed it to thrive in Japan\u2019s political system?<\/h2>\n<h3>\nDr. Fahey <strong>(16:41)<\/strong>:<\/h3>\n<p>So yeah, <i>Sanseito<\/i> was the topic of the presentation we gave at ECPR (European Consortium for Political Research) last summer. This is a party that emerged during the pandemic. They really kind of emerged from the anti-vaccine and anti-masking movements that you saw in Japan during the pandemic. And to that extent, I think when they first emerged, people expected that they would just be a flash in the pan and as soon as those things were no longer a major salient issue, they\u2019d just go away.<\/p>\n<p>This is a country where little niche parties boil up and disappear very, very quickly. But instead\u00a0<i>Sanseito<\/i>\u00a0have kind of gone from strength to strength, not to the extent of being a major party yet, but they won a single seat in the Upper House. Then they won about 100 seats in local elections the following year. And in the general election last year they won three seats in the Lower House. So, they\u2019ve really kind of continued to go from strength to strength even as the core issue that they were founded on, which was rejection of vaccines, has dissipated. And we\u2019ve looked into their worldviews and their conspiracy beliefs, and it really still has that vaccination aspect at the heart of it. And it\u2019s public health or rejection of public health measures. But they also now have a much broader conspiracy worldview that they peddled to their membership.<\/p>\n<p>So that\u2019s who\u00a0<i>Sanseito<\/i>\u00a0are in terms of why they have thrived. Why they have thrived in this political system. That\u2019s sort of the puzzle because there are a number of countries where you had parties a little bit like\u00a0<i>Sanseito<\/i>. So, you can think of something like dieBasis in Germany was a party that really resembled\u00a0<i>Sanseito\u00a0<\/i>when it emerged, but it just kind of fizzled off into nothingness. And you had similar kind of little conspiracy theory actors in a bunch of different places, especially in Europe.<\/p>\n<p>If we look at Japan, there are a number of factors that I think have helped\u00a0<i>Sanseito<\/i>\u00a0to become successful, as well as their own agency. Right. They have also been a very good party in terms of organizing themselves and building themselves up into quite a significant force in terms of alternative media and in terms of messaging and in terms of presence in on-street campaigning, which is something a lot of parties really fail to do. The organizational stuff is very important. But in terms of Japan itself,<i>\u00a0Sanseito<\/i>\u00a0have really ridden the wave of a massive decline in trust in Japan. We\u2019ve always thought of Japan as a high trust society and compared to Western societies, it pretty much is. But we have now seen a very big decline in media trust and\u00a0<i>Sanseito\u00a0<\/i>has been one of the beneficiaries of that. A lot of people feel that they don\u2019t trust the mainstream media or that they don\u2019t get the full story from the mainstream media. And unfortunately, who they turn to in order to get what they think of as the full story can be very unreliable sources.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, there\u2019s a lack of faith in mainstream politics to produce solutions. I know we\u2019ve both been working on Japanese politics for a long time, but even if you\u2019re somebody who has just had casual conversations about it with people, it\u2019s very hard to find a Japanese person who will tell you, \u201coh, yes, I think politicians are going to fix things.\u201d I know that\u2019s not a common sentiment in most countries, but certainly in Japan there\u2019s a very, very low degree of faith that any political change or any election or any political movement is going to really fix things. And that of course opens the door to these kind of fringe actors.<\/p>\n<p>The other thing is that\u00a0<i>Sanseito<\/i>\u00a0emerged at the time when there was a real vacuum in Japan\u2019s right wing. So, this is after the assassination. I mean, they emerged before the assassination of Shinzo Abe, but they really came to prominence after that, where you have a vacuum on the right wing of the LDP. You have a sense from some right-wing people that the LDP has sort of been taken over by its centrists and its moderates. And so, there\u2019s some people feeling a little bit politically homeless within that right-wing tendency.<\/p>\n<p>And parties like\u00a0<i>Sanseito<\/i>\u00a0have also been able to capitalize on that kind of going down through the list here. But the other thing is the electoral system. It\u2019s not a criticism of the electoral system, but Japan has a system of topping up seats through proportional representation. And that basically means that you can get into the Diet without necessarily directly winning a constituency seat. And<i>\u00a0Sanseito<\/i>\u00a0has never won a constituency. So, they\u2019ve always got their seats through topping up in the local elections, where they also did reasonably well. They have a system in many places where you have say 50 seats in the local assembly and it\u2019s a first past the post system. So, the most you\u2019ll ever need to win of the vote to get a seat is 2%. So, this really lets small parties, niche parties, single issue candidates and so on get into those assemblies.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s not necessarily a bad thing. Some people prefer to have political systems that exclude small parties. Some people say that\u2019s kind of like leaving a wound to fester. And they then get to go to their supporters and say, look how the system excludes us and oppresses us. So, there\u2019s an argument for letting them into Parliament and exposing them to the light of day. But certainly, we do see that it\u2019s in countries that have this more proportional electoral system that these types of parties have done reasonably well.<\/p>\n<h2>\nAbout the Guests:<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_85410\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-85410 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2025\/07\/DSCF4022-1-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2025\/07\/DSCF4022-1-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2025\/07\/DSCF4022-1-610x407.jpg 610w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2025\/07\/DSCF4022-1-2000x1333.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2025\/07\/DSCF4022-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2025\/07\/DSCF4022-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2025\/07\/DSCF4022-1-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Dr. Fahey, Right: Marcantuoni<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Dr. Robert Fahey<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Robert A. Fahey was formerly an assistant professor of political science at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/wias\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Waseda Institute for Advanced Study<\/a>. His research interests include populism, polarisation, the effects of conspiracy theory belief, and Japanese politics. He is currently working on a series of large-scale surveys aimed at discovering what kinds of conspiracy beliefs are widespread in East Asian countries, and how those beliefs impact the political and social life of those nations.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Ph.D. Candidate Romeo Marcantuoni<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Romeo Marcantuoni is a Ph.D. candidate at the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies at Waseda University. He earned his MA and BA in Japanese Studies at KU Leuven, Belgium. His research centers on Japan\u2019s progressive parties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first 8-episode series of Waseda University\u2019s English podcast \u201cRigorous Research, Real Impact\u201d is currentl [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":85428,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,117],"tags":[355,379,178],"class_list":["post-85405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-topic","tag-highlight-en","tag-podcast-en","tag-research-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85405"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85442,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85405\/revisions\/85442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}