"Long ago, rock was a symbol of the anti-establishment...Using words, not guitars, as our weapons today, politics is what rocks!"
That's the marketing message of Sanseito, a new right-wing populist party in Japan known for its stance against immigrants and coronavirus measures as well as calls for rewriting the postwar Constitution, often seen as taboo. Some supporters want to revive wartime slogans of the Japanese Empire.
Sanseito, known in English as the Party of Do it Yourself, was established as the pandemic began in 2020 and quickly exploited the fears and frustrations of people in Japan.
It picked up three seats in last October's lower house election. The party leader Sohei Kamiya, who won re-election in May, has set a target of six seats in voting for the upper house this summer.
Amid growing discontent with economic malaise and record-breaking numbers of inbound tourists, Sanseito supporters complain that foreigners receive better treatment than Japanese and the country's culture is changing rapidly.