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However, the new coalition is still two seats short of a majority in the lower house and will require additional parliamentary support. This means Takaichi's minority government will be more precarious and constrained than previous governments.

Japan's demographic crisis

Japan's population peaked at around 128 million in 2008 and has steadily declined ever since. It's around 124 million today.

Last year, the fertility rate (the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime) fell to a record low of 1.15. Under current projections, Japan's population is expected to fall to 87 million by 2070 and 63 million by 2100, when only half the population will be of working age.

The issue is therefore not simply one of a declining population, but also an ageing population, with rising pension and medical costs. Many professions in Japan, such as teachers, doctors and caregivers, are already facing acute labor shortages.

Japan's population could halve by the turn of the century. Photo: Eugene Hoshiko / AP via The Conversation Immigration as a political lightning rod

While previous governments have acknowledged that the declining population is a significant problem, they have done little to address the issue.

Various initiatives have brought foreign residents or workers into the country, but there has been a reluctance under LDP governments to introduce programs with the scale and commitment – in terms of integrating immigrants into Japanese society – to make a significant difference.

This means these programs have had only modest success. Japan's number of foreign-born residents reached a record high of 3.6 million this year, representing around 3% of the population. But this is far lower than many other developed economies.

This increased foreign population has resulted in a record number of“foreign” babies being born in Japan, with Chinese, Filipino and Brazilian mothers topping the list. This has somewhat offset the declining figures for newborns from Japanese parents.

Japan's tourism industry is also booming, with almost 37 million visitors coming last year.

Taken together, this increasing number of foreigners in Japan has resulted in the rise of anti-immigrant parties and policies, including the far-right Sanseito party. This, in turn, prompted the LDP to move further to the right to avoid losing votes to Sanseito and other populist parties.

This partly explains why Takaichi's nationalist rhetoric has resonated with the ageing conservative LDP base.

Takaichi advocates for foreign workers in specified fields where the country has labor shortages, albeit under strict criteria (such as Japanese language ability, training and oversight). And she opposes the mass settlement of immigrants, or the large-scale granting of political rights to foreign residents.

While her policies have so far been short on detail, she has framed foreigners as a danger to national cohesion that needs to be strictly controlled.

Pro-natalist policies pushed instead

Across the world, older populations tend to be more susceptible to anti-immigrant scare campaigns from right-wing conservative media and politicians.