Japan heads to the polls for the House of Councillors Elections on 20 July 2025. While Japan's electoral laws have been generally regarded as fair and well enforced, there are electoral issues that need to be addressed including low voter turnout, gender gap and representation, increasing public distrust on the government and overall dissatisfaction with the state of democracy.

In this episode of "The Election Observer" podcast, the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) discusses electoral issues in Japan and the overall state of democracy in the country with Prof Hiroaki SHIGA of Yokohama National University and Prof. Tsai Hsi-Hsun of Tamkang University.