Japan LNG to gain traction from political inertia

The crumbling of the country’s postwar political consensus may bolster the country’s LNG demand outlook by stymieing planned nuclear restarts

Japan’s recent snap elections have created a situation unprecedented in the country’s postwar history. After US occupation following the Second World War, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) governed Japan without interruption until 2009, when it was briefly ousted from power, before returning to govern in coalition with the Komeito party from 2012. But the scandal-tainted LDP-Komeito coalition saw its support decline in the latest elections, and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba now faces the prospect of attempting to govern without a parliamentary majority. The stage is set for further political turmoil and a new era in which other political parties may be able to influence or block policy—part