Charles McClean

Takaichi’s Historic Supermajority At least 31 killed in Islamabad bombing, updates on the U.S.-Iran talks, and please don’t juggle fire while on a unicycle in public.

I was quoted in @thedispatchmedia.bsky.social on Takaichi’s unusually strong support among younger voters — and what that meant for the LDP going into Japan’s snap election thedispatch.com/newsletter/m...

Inside Japan’s High-Stakes Snap Election YouTube video by Center for Strategic & International Studies

This morning, I joined @kristigovella.bsky.social and Nick Szechenyi at @japan.csis.org to discuss the outcome of Japan's snap election.

The video is now posted if you'd like to watch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF1F...

Takaichi's snap election gamble has clearly paid off.

Snap elections tend to benefit incumbents — especially when opposition parties are caught off guard and the campaign period is particularly short.

I've written about this dynamic before: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

The scale of the LDP’s victory is hard to overstate:

• 316/465 seats (68%) — biggest win in party history
• Swept 31 of 47 prefectures
• With Ishin: 352 seats (76%), swept 33 prefectures

Results: www.asahi.com/senkyo/shuin...

Reminder: Join this online discussion tomorrow morning @japan.csis.org with @kristigovella.bsky.social (2016-17), @cmcclean.bsky.social (2020-21), & Nicholas Szechenyi to make sense of Sunday's election outcome and ways forward for Japan. More info: bit.ly/45HEAPT.

Reminder: there's still time to apply for the Japan Conference for Social Scientists @yalemacmillan.bsky.social

Deadline: Feb. 13

Submission link below ⬇️

Join us Feb 9 for a virtual discussion with experts @kristigovella.bsky.social, @cmcclean.bsky.social, & Nick Szechenyi on the outcome of Japan's general election and how it will impact the future direction of Japanese domestic politics and foreign policy.

🗓️ Register here: https://bit.ly/45HEAPT

📢 Save the Date: Feb 9 at 8:00 - 9:00 am EST

The CSIS Japan Chair invites you to join a virtual discussion on Japan's February 8 general election results featuring @kristigovella.bsky.social, @cmcclean.bsky.social, & Nicholas Szechenyi.

Click here for more information: https://bit.ly/45HEAPT

The @csis.org Japan Chair program is pleased to welcome @cmcclean.bsky.social as a Non-resident Adjunct Fellow. Dr. McClean is an assistant professor at @yale.edu with expertise in Japanese domestic politics, the politics of age, and youth political representation: https://bit.ly/3ZJxOWh

[Grace Kao] Polyrhythmic diplomacy of K-pop in Korea-Japan ties A week ago, South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung and Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi drummed to “Golden” from “KPop Demon Hunters” and BTS’ 2020 smash si

A great piece by my colleague Grace Kao (Sociology) on K-pop, soft power, and Japan-Korea diplomacy—sparked by the now-famous drum duet between Prime Minister Takaichi and President Lee. Glad to be quoted. www.koreaherald.com/article/1065...

Anna Yorozuya and I are delighted to share that we're hosting the Japan Conference for Social Scientists on May 29-30 @yalemacmillan.bsky.social CEAS.

🗓️ Apply by Feb. 13: macmillan.yale.edu/eastasia/eve...

New York City Has Not Elected a Mayor This Young in More Than a Century

At 34, Zohran Mamdani is New York's youngest mayor in over a century.

Over 2 million people voted—the most since 1969—fueled in part by strong youth turnout. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/n...

Takaichi's cabinet is a bit younger (avg. age: 59) than Ishiba's outgoing one (avg. age: 63), though both include just three members under 50.

So, at least from a women's and youth representation standpoint, it's interesting how similar the two pictures look...

As Japan's first female prime minister, Takaichi has appointed Katayama as the first female finance minister. Yet only two cabinet members are women—unchanged from Ishiba's outgoing cabinet.

Not quite the "Nordic levels" of women's representation that Takaichi campaigned on...

Thanks for the shout out, Dan!

Japan’s Iron Lady Sanae Takaichi is set to inherit a Japan reshaped by inflation, weak growth, and political turnover.

I spoke with @thedispatchmedia.bsky.social for this story on Takaichi, which also features great insights from Christina Davis @harvardusjapan.bsky.social, @mireyasolis.bsky.social, @kristigovella.bsky.social, and @sheilasmithcfr.bsky.social thedispatch.com/newsletter/m...

Japan’s Iron Lady Sanae Takaichi is set to inherit a Japan reshaped by inflation, weak growth, and political turnover.

Director Christina Davis, Charles McClean @cmcclean.bsky.social (2020-21), Kristi Govella @kristigovella.bsky.social (2017-18), and Sheila Smith @sheilasmithcfr.bsky.social (Distinguished Visitor, 2013-14) are quoted in The Dispatch article, "Japan's Iron Lady." tinyurl.com/yf3vmjpt

Yesterday, we were delighted to welcome James Raymo (Princeton) to @yale.edu to kick off two series:

- Population Studies Workshop @ispsyale.bsky.social
- Japan as Future @yalemacmillan.bsky.social

His talk focused on divorce, remarriage, and fertility in #Japan isps.yale.edu/events/2025/...

Minority Governments Revisited Despite decades of scholarship on coalition bargaining in parliamentary democracies, minority governments remain a puzzle. From the 1970s on, cross-national empirical scholarship has shown minority go...

With Ishiba resigning, Japan is set to have its 4th new PM in 5 years.

Notably, his minority coalition hasn't been unusually short by comparative standards—at 343 days so far, it's longer than the 327-day average in Europe (per our study).
link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...

Excited to be co-organizing the new @ispsyale.bsky.social Population Studies Workshop with @dremmazang.bsky.social. We've got a fantastic lineup for the year—take a look!

Selective development goals: examining Japan’s SDG implementation gaps Abstract. In this article, we consider how efforts by the Japanese government and private sector to make the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals

Japan elected a record 42 women to the Upper House—a step forward for gender representation.

But our article shows how visible progress in some areas can coexist with deeper patterns of inequality.

@takadanobaba.bsky.social, @clsturtz.bsky.social, Charles Crabtree
academic.oup.com/ssjj/article...

Selective development goals: examining Japan’s SDG implementation gaps Abstract. In this article, we consider how efforts by the Japanese government and private sector to make the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals

Newly published, this paper by Paul Christensen, Cindi SturtzSreetharan, Charles Crabtree and Charles McClean looks at the implementation of the SDGs in Japan: academic.oup.com/ssjj/article...

I wrote an article on the absurdity of Japan's use of the SDGs with @clsturtz.bsky.social, @cmcclean.bsky.social, and Charles Crabtree. We think it's pretty good... Selective development goals: examining Japan’s SDG implementation gaps url: academic.oup.com/ssjj/article...

Excited to join Yale Young Global Scholars again this year (@yale.edu)! I’ll be giving three talks on youth representation to 450 high school students from over 60 countries. Looking forward to hearing whether they’d ever consider running for office.

The Experimental Research section of the American Political Science Association (@experimentsapsa.bsky.social) invites research proposals from post-prospectus PhD students for its Experimental Research Early-Career Fellowship program. Share this post! @apsa.bsky.social, @poscresearch.bsky.social

Looking forward to hosting @cmcclean.bsky.social‬ next week.

Join us and hear why younger politicians are so rare in countries like Japan and how this shortage shapes democracy and social policy 👇

Silver Democracy: Youth Representation in an Aging Japan

Excited to visit @fsi.stanford.edu @aparc.stanford.edu on Monday to discuss my book project on youth representation and its implications for policymaking and democracy. aparc.fsi.stanford.edu/events/silve...

And thank you, @alexmathieu.bsky.social, for all your help organizing this series—looking forward to working with you on next year's as well! 🙏

Thank you to our 5 speakers for joining this year's @yalemacmillan.bsky.social CEAS Japan as Future series! 🙏

@tomphuongle.bsky.social
Henry Laurence (Bowdoin)
Junko Kato @utokyoofficial.bsky.social
Erin Chung (Johns Hopkins)
@kmcelwain.bsky.social

Grateful to Japan Foundation for their support!

📌 Japan Lecture Series @yalemacmillan.bsky.social

Join us for a talk by @kmcelwain.bsky.social on public attitudes toward constitutional revision and their implications for democratic governance.

🗓️ Thu, April 10
🕛 12–1:30pm
📍 ISPS A002
🍣 Lunch provided!
🔗 macmillan.yale.edu/eastasia/eve...