Photo/Illutration Some in the audience at a Tokyo rally of a party advocating tougher regulations against foreigners express opposition to racism on July 19. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Front-page headlines in Japanese newspapers come in various forms. The more important or surprising the news, the more the headline shifts from the traditional vertical format (top to bottom, commonly used in most articles) to a bold horizontal layout (left to right).

Major news stories also tend to use what is known as the “beta-kuro shiro-nuki” format--white lettering set against a solid black background--stretching dramatically across the width of the page.

In the latest Upper House election--where the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner, Komeito, suffered a stinging setback--the largest headline now looms high above this daily column, which appears regularly at the bottom of The Asahi Shimbun’s front page.

When Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba appeared on television on election day, July 20, his expression was more tense and rigid than ever. This seismic shift in Japan’s political landscape may well go down as a moment of lasting historical significance.

At the same time, I can’t shake the feeling that another, more troubling shift has taken place, one quite different from the “political upheaval” captured by the headline. It is the rise of xenophobia. I have never witnessed an election in which fear of foreigners was so openly inflamed, nor one where discriminatory rhetoric was voiced with such blatant ease.

Democracy is governance through speech. For elections--the very foundation of democracy--to function properly, it is essential that policy debates be grounded in facts. Yet, despite repeated media fact-checks exposing falsehoods in the xenophobic statements made by a certain party’s candidates and its leader, that very party has garnered a significant number of votes. What, then, lies ahead?

If the party continues to take the same stance on issues concerning foreign nationals during Diet deliberations, I fear that its rhetoric--used to legitimize prejudice--will gain broader acceptance in society, bolstered by its growing political influence.

In “How Democracies Die,” Harvard political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt warn that the erosion of democracy often begins with language. “The process often begins with words,” they write.

Am I reading too much into this? I can only hope that someday people will look back and say with a laugh, “You were worrying for nothing.”

--The Asahi Shimbun, July 21

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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