Sanaenomics: What Japan's New Economic Programme Means for Foreign Investors
On 8 February 2026, Sanae Takaichi won a landslide victory in Japan’s snap election. Her LDP-Ishin coalition secured 352 seats in the 465-member Lower House, surpassing the two-thirds supermajority threshold. For the first time in years, Japan has a government with both a clear economic agenda and the parliamentary authority to execute it. For US and European investors who may not follow Japanese politics closely, this matters. The policy framework that Takaichi is building, sometimes called “Sanaenomics,” represents the most explicitly growth-oriented programme Japan has pursued since Abenomics a decade ago. But where Abenomics relied primarily on monetary policy, Takaichi’s approach centres on industrial strategy and direct fiscal spending. The difference has implications for which sectors benefit and how foreign investors should think about exposure. ...