Japan: Political Developments and Data in 2021

The year 2021 saw the resignation of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga after just a year in office, following steep declines in his government's approval ratings due to public dissatisfaction with aspects of his handling of the COVID‐19 pandemic and the Tokyo Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. His successor, former Minister for Foreign Affairs Fumio Kishida, was nonetheless able to limit the ruling party's losses in a general election in late October, preventing the left‐wing opposition parties from making any advances. The centre‐right Japan Innovation Party/Nippon Ishin no Kai, however, gained 30 seats to become the third‐largest party in the Diet, consolidating its political grip on the region surrounding Japan's second‐largest city, Osaka.