Note: Seki Hei rescinded his decision in June 2025 and rejoined the race. In July 2025, he was elected as part of the Innovation Party’s proportional representation block, taking one of the seats awarded to the party.
Have you heard of Seki Hei (石平; Shí Píng)? He’s a conservative political commentator born in China but gained Japanese citizenship in 2007. He’s been considering a run for political office in this year’s upcoming Upper House election as a member of the Innovation Party, the Kansai region-centric party that’s been trying (with little success lately) to elevate itself into a national party.
First, a little (okay, a LOT of) political background. The Innovation Party (維新の会; Ishin no Kai) is not what anyone would call a “far-right” political party. One survey from Japan run in 2021 shows most people in Japan think of Innovation as middle-of-the-road. (Note that this could have shifted; Democratic Party for the People, in particular, may be seen as a bit further right.)
Colors above: Red – Liberal Democrat Party (LDP; Japan’s ruling party), Orange – Komeito, Green – Innovation, Yellow – Democratic Party for the People (DPP), Blue – Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP), Purple – Japanese Communist Party (JCP), Pink – Reiwa Shinsengumi
Not shown above are Japan’s “hard right” parties – by which I specifically mean here the xenophobic, racist, anti-immigration right. These parties are small. Between them, the largest – the (well-named) Conservative Party (保守党) and Sanseito (参政党) – hold all of six seats in the Japanese Diet’s powerful 465-member Lower House.
The Innovation Party’s done nothing to ingratiate itself with the far right. Indeed, its recent (successful) push to make high school course fees free for every resident – including (gasp!) foreigners – has pissed off many of these hateful conservatives.
Tl;dr – the far right isn’t a major political force in modern Japanese politics. However, their voices are overrepresented online, particularly these days on Elon Musk’s X. And if there’s one thing the online far right of Japan hates more than Korean people, it’s Chinese people.
The online far right is constantly railing against Chinese ownership of land in Japan, as well as what they see as preferential treatment for Chinese people – such as Japan’s plans to grant 10-year tourist visas to wealthy Chinese citizens. While most both within and outside of Japan see the majority LDP as very conservative, many on the online far right view them as traitors.
So, with that context, let’s go back to Seki.
