In the wake of recent House elections, Sanseito is defying the odds and surging in the polls. How can a country already tilted so far to the right still have further to go? And what does Sanseito’s rise reveal about the broader, increasingly isolationist mood sweeping the globe?

Shigeru Ishiba has emerged as Japan’s latest prime minister after a drawn out and largely predictable leadership race. For anyone who believes the renewed pledges and lofty promises, precedent paints a more realistic picture of what's to come.