[kobebeef]

Well you are right that the LDP, the conservative party, has been elected basically every time in post war Japan. I disagree that it is based on nationalism though.

LDP gained power with the help of the CIA when the US was worried about the Soviet Union and wanted to rearm Japan (the LDP wants to rearm Japan). The majority of Japanese public has even up to this day been opposed to getting rid of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution which outlaws Japan from going to war, which is why Japan's constitution remains as the oldest unamended constitution in the world despite the LDP's efforts to amend it. I think there's a big gap between how the LDP's right wing members (its worth noting that the LDP is a large multi faction party with a wide range of political ideology) and the Japanese public largely because many LDP members are relatives of people responsible for WW2 and so they have revisionist view of the war. The Japanese public on the other hand are Pacifists because of Pacifist education. Teacher's unions were largely socialist/communist especially the early days and strongly against imperialism. Also pacifism is a part of Japanese identity because of the constitution that prohibits war, much like how gun ownership is a part of American identity.

The LDP has been in power so long that it is really the only party that has experience running the country. Japan has had brief success in electing opposition parts two times, but both times, a major earthquake occurred (1995, 2011) and the Japanese public wanted the LDP back for stability. I think that the LDP remains in power today because Japanese want stability and harmony.

I will say that pacifism is waning, but this has less to do with a sort of make Japan greater again nationalism and more to do with North Korean missiles being fired towards Japan. Again Japanese want stability and harmony so slowly opening up to the possibility of constitutional revision is largely a factor of wanting stability. This also means the Japanese absolutely hate the fringe ultra nationalists who blast their hatred on their mega phone vans. I will say though, the desire for stability and harmony also helps the nationalists because the left (besides the communist party) sees protests as divisive and unfortunately pushback against the right is rather weak.