A fringe far-right populist party Sanseito was one of the biggest winners in the weekend's upper house election, attracting many voters with “Japanese First" platform that included calling for tougher restrictions on foreigners and the curtailment of gender equality and diversity policies.

Japan’s voters dealt Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) with yet another devastating blow on Sunday, the second electoral loss since coming into office last fall.

Sanseito, a Japanese populist party that draws inspiration from Donald Trump's politics, is gaining support ahead of Sunday's upper house elections, suggesting a notable shift in the country's traditionally centrist landscape.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has vowed to remain in office, despite exit polls indicating that his Liberal Democratic Party's ruling coalition has lost its majority in the country's upper house.

The era of predictable elections is over, though Prime Minister Ishiba vows to remain in office. Mr. Kirk, based in Seoul and Washington, has been covering Asia for decades for newspapers and magazines and is the author of books on Korea, the Vietnam War and the Philippines.

In a significant political shift, Prime Minister Ishiba's coalition lost its majority in Japan's upper house, marking the first such loss for the LDP since 1955. The far-right Sanseito party gained traction with anti-immigrant rhetoric,

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s future is unclear after his coalition appeared to have disastrously lost its upper house majority in elections