00:00With Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi widely expected to secure a landslide victory,
00:05polls point to strong backing from younger voters, a group that has traditionally seen
00:09low turnout. Dr. Fu Chiu-Ping from the East Asian International Relations Caucus
00:15dissects Takaichi's appeal to this highly coveted group.
00:21She's active on YouTube and the Japanese version of that is Nico Nico. So she really
00:27tapped into the fan culture that really successfully branded not only her, but her party as really
00:33cool and trendy instead of being old and outdated. And also she promised to those young voters
00:40that in terms of domestic economic expectation, especially now that they are experiencing
00:46inflation and the depreciated yen, she proposed Sanae Dynamics. So it's a 21 trillion Japanese
00:53yen stimulus package and promised to cut down taxes on food. So all of this are done to appeal
01:00to the younger voters.
01:03Calling for a snap election less than 100 days into office reflects both confidence and strategic
01:08calculation on Takaichi's end, taking advantage of a fragmented opposition and lack of a clear
01:14counter-message from the newly formed Centrist Reform Alliance. However, Hu points out there are still
01:20some underappreciated risks going into election day.
01:25The voter turnout is not great, and especially for those who age between 18 to 39 years old.
01:34So they may support her online, but they may not turn out in person. So this is one variable
01:39that we can watch out for if there is a potential change in the expectation. So secondly is the market
01:47with Lash. So Japan's debt to GDP ratio is already exceeding more than 200%, which is very dangerous.
01:58And just very recently, she made a remark about how depreciated yen is actually good for Japan to
02:05attract more investors. And that really received a lot of backlash, and she was forced to even take
02:10back to the comments. So this honeymoon could end before, if they are not managing the economic
02:17expectation carefully.
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