Thread by @Noahpinion

The idea that "Japan is not really democratic" is very wrong. It is. The LDP occasionally does lose power, and doesn't use anti-democratic methods to prevent this. But the LDP is very good at triangulating on policy, so it bounces back.

https://twitter.com/CacheThatCheque/status/1455091821466423300

Giving people a choice doesn't preclude that they'll make the same choice most of the time. The LDP plays the game fairly and usually wins, because it's generally pretty good at giving Japanese people what they want -- or at least, less bad than the opposition.

Most of the countries where one party usually (or always) wins have some sort of authoritarian structure that advantages the dominant party. Japan does not. This book is a little dated, but it basically explains why the LDP usually wins.

amazon.com/Democracy-with…

This is a pretty succinct explanation of why Japanese voters usually choose the LDP.

https://twitter.com/CacheThatCheque/status/1455092514700988421

Anyway, didn't mean to dunk on that thread. It's good, especially the part about foreign media saying a lot of silly stuff about Japan (though this is decreasing recently, as more outlets hire actual Japanese people to do their reporting!)

https://twitter.com/CacheThatCheque/status/1455091801711251463