After swift gains in the upper house elections in July, the Sanseitō Party is selling tickets to a talk with the Trump media hatchetman who founded Turning Point USA.
A rising far-right political party in Japan, Sanseitō, is promoting a sold-out speaking event with racist, far-right commentator and Turning Point USA founder, Charlie Kirk. Scheduled to speak on September 7, the conference will include party members as well as Sanseitō’s leader, Sōhei Kamiya, an anti-immigrant, anti-globalist firebrand who built the party’s following as a popular YouTube conspiracy theorist.
Taking place at the Sabo Kaikan Annex, “Charlie Kirk’s Symposium” will occur in the political heart of Tokyo, near the Supreme Court, a short walk from the headquarters of the country’s largest political party, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the National Diet Building, the seat of both houses of Japan’s parliament.
“Japanese First”
Sanseitō was swept into relevance after the Japanese upper house election on July 20. Jumping from one seat held by Kamiya to 14, the swift rise of the far-right populist party has been part of a larger shake-up in Japanese politics that is challenging the longstanding political order.
Sanseitō, which translates roughly to the “Political Participation” party, was started in 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, by Kamiya, livestreamer Manabu Matsuda, and Yūya Watase, founder of the Tokyo Tea Party. Initially meant to show viewers how to form their own “do it yourself” political party, Kamiya, a former grocery store manager and reservist in Japan’s Self-Defence Force, embraced conspiracy theories around the pandemic, using his rapidly growing social following, particularly on YouTube, to reach a receptive audience.
Quickly striking an anti-vaccine and anti-government approach to politics, Kamiya has promoted a bizarre list of conspiracy theories and historical revisionism.
He was forced to clarify that he does not have “any personal prejudice against Jews,” after it was revealed that a 2022 party guidebook said that “Jewish international capital” was “behind many of the events we have learned about in history.” The party insisted that it would not “sell Japan out to Jewish capital.”
Kamiya claimed the section was added by the publisher without his knowledge, though he is also listed as editor of the book.
Sanseitō has also adopted a revisionist stance on Japan’s position in WWII, which includes recasting the country’s role as resisting Western influence and power in East Asia, rather than the expansionist aims of imperial Japan. Downplaying the extent that Koreans were used as forced labor during the war, in a 2024 book, Sanseito Drill, the party claims that South Korean propaganda ignores many workers who were recruited rather than conscripted into the Japanese imperial war effort. In total, an estimated eight million South Koreans were mobilized into forced labor during the war, suffering hellish abuse.
Promoting a return to traditional Japanese values and the nation’s self-sustainability, Sanseitō, like far-right movements globally, advocates for a return to domestic roles for woman and opposes marriage rights and recognition of the country’s LGBTQ+ community.
Japan is the only G7 country to not have legalized same-sex marriage, despite a recent court ruling finding the ban unconstitutional. In June 2023, the “Act on the Promotion of Citizens’ Understanding of Diversity of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity” was enacted in Japan to promote understanding of the LGBTQ+ community, but did not go as far as to outlaw discrimination.
Regardless, Kamiya penned a letter criticising the act, stating that, “Discussions on sexual orientation and gender identity have evolved from a variety of academic disciplines, including philosophy, sociology, feminism theory, and even critical theory, but it is pointed out that the idea is influenced by Marxism and critical race theory. A careful approach is needed, as these arguments can sometimes be the basis for radical movements.” Claims of Marxism driving LGBTQ+ rights movements and the evils of critical race theory are common among far-right parties worldwide, and are often exported abroad by American far-right figures.
No to Immigrants
Sanseitō has positioned itself as a party dedicated to placing increased restrictions on foreigners, a key position in its 2025 campaign.
“We are not promoting xenophobia,” Kamiya said at a June 2025 news conference. “Japanese people feel unease and dissatisfaction because there are no established rules for accepting foreigners.”
He added later that, “Many citizens are frustrated that too much money is being spent on social security and education support for foreigners.”
Sanseitō has advocated for capping the percentage of foreign residents at five percent of the population in each region. It has advocated for artificial intelligence being used as a means of reducing the need for foreign workers.
Crediting his “bold political style” as inspired by Donald Trump, and adopting a “Japanese First” position, Kamiya was elected as the party’s first representative in the House of Councillors (Japan’s Upper Legislative Chamber) in 2022.
Then only a lone fringe politician, the years that followed have seen Sanseitō make gains regionally as support for the LDP, still the largest political party, deteriorated.
During the 2025 election, immigration became one of the most prominent issues, and the topic that allowed Sanseitō to make significant gains over their opponents, including the LDP. Finding purchase particularly with younger voters, exit polls from the July 2025 election found support for Kamiya came predominantly from men and women under 40.
In many ways, these immigration policies are a reaction to Japan’s changing demographics, which, due to an ageing population and low birthrate, require increasing immigration to fill gaps in the workforce.
Despite data showing that foreign workers rarely take jobs sought by Japanese nationals, Sanseitō focuses on stoking fears about foreign workers bringing crime and gaining a foothold in Japanese society, not unlike false anti-immigrant claims made by Trump in the U.S. and other far-right political figures across the globe.
Party policies include putting an end to welfare support for foreigners, a ban on foreign employment in the public sector, and advocating stricter cultural conformity for those living in Japan.
Sanseitō also promises to make the process of obtaining permanent residence more difficult, even though it is already laborious and difficult to obtain.
Kamiya was criticized for using a Japanese slur against Koreans during a speech in July 2025. Complaining about the media’s reception of Sanseitō’s proposal for a new constitution, he said “We are being derided, being called idiots, stupid, and chon.”
Recognizing that “chon” is a slur, he immediately walked the statement back.
“You can cut that,” and stated, “I’m sorry. I amend that.”
Despite apologizing quickly for his use of the phrase, claiming it also means stupid, Kamiya was nonetheless condemned by an NGO representing Koreans in Japan. Koreans make up the third largest group of non-ethnic Japanese living in the country.
Charlie’s Angle
Enter Charlie Kirk.
No stranger to controversy, Kirk is a seasoned agitator and pundit. He gained prominence by staging public debates on university campuses, often inviting students or onlookers to ask and debate him over contentious issues—a practice he has continued at universities and colleges throughout the US. Footage of these events is released in edited clips and shared online.
Previously a believer in the separation of church and state, Kirk has become increasingly an advocate for the injection of Christianity into American politics. Kirk now pushes everything from anti-woman positions to falsely claiming the LGBTQ+ community harms children to supporting Trump’s aggressive immigration and deportation policies.
Often using his public social media to make racist statements, this includes a recent monologue that individuals with dual citizenship are not “real Americans.”
“No dual passports, no dual loyalty, no dual citizenship,” he said during an August 19 episode of The Charlie Kirk Show. As evidence, Kirk offered a litany of names of Democratic politicians who are the children of immigrants or who immigrated to the US. All of the people he listed are Muslims, including a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, Ismail Mohamed.
“Now, when we think of what it means to be an American, is someone by the name of Ismail Mohamed? Yeah. I don’t think so,” Kirk said after playing a clip of Mohamed speaking Somali to a crowd.
Kirk’s social media contains no references to the upcoming Japanese talk, though he is officially scheduled to appear at a South Korean conference titled Build Up Korea on September 6, alongside Jack Posobiec, a far-right conspiracy theorist who has numerous ties to white supremacist groups, and other extremists. The only confirmation from Kirk came in an interview with the newly elected Sanseitō politican, Yamanaka Sen, on Yamanaka’s YouTube channel. During the interview at Turning Point U.S.A.’s Arizona offices, Kirk says in English he is looking forward to visiting Japan for the first time, adding he hopes to “invigorate the people of your great nation to keep fighting this globalist menace that is happening.”
Why This Matters?
Four years ago, Sanseitō held one seat in the Japanese parliament. Since that time, it has become a prominent far-right voice inside the country’s government. Despite frequent claims from its leadership not to discriminate against foreigners, Kamiya built his party on a foundation of populist anger and a loose relationship with the truth, framing foreign workers as a “silent invasion,” language common to supporters of the white supremacist “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory common in European and North American far-right politics and the inspiration for multiple terrorist attacks globally.
For decades, Japan has been ruled by a coalition government led by the LDP. The cracks in the party’s longstanding support have continued to widen as the country faces a number of growing issues that include rising food costs, a weak yen, and a increasing hostility towards outsiders.
Using the rhetoric of the American MAGA movement, Sanseitō has learned the same lessons as other far-right political movements in countries like Italy, Germany, and Hungary, which have redirected the resentment felt by their constituents against minority groups, especially immigrants.
He might promote isolationist policies at home, but with the upcoming conference in Tokyo and a promise to travel to the U.S. at an unspecified date, Kamiya is seeking to bring his fledgling party into the embrace and attention of the international far-right.
