Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya's xenophobic views, antisemitic remarks and emphasis on Japan’s ethnic purity have raised alarms.

Its leader is a former supermarket manager who created his political party on YouTube in the depths of the coronavirus pandemic and campaigned on the Trumpian message “Japanese First.”

Japan’s far-right Sanseito party has emerged as a major winner in the country’s upper house election, riding a wave of nationalist rhetoric, anti-immigration warnings and populist pledges on tax cuts and social welfare.