The is a political party in Japan based in Osaka, variously described as conservative, centre-right, right-wing, and right-wing populist.
The party was founded in October 2015, as Initiatives from Osaka, from a split in the old Japan Innovation Party. It ended up becoming the third-largest opposition party in the National Diet following the 2016 House of Councillors election. In the 2017 general election, the party won 11 seats, down from the 14 it held previously. In the 2019 House of Councillors election, it won 4 new seats. In the 2021 general election, the party gained 30 seats, becoming the third-largest party in the chamber, winning nearly all seats in Osaka while also expanding its representation outside the prefecture. In the 2024 general election, it lost several of its seats but kept its dominance in Osaka. In 2025, the party formed a governing coalition together with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) following the collapse of the 26-year-long LDP–Komeito coalition.
The Japan Innovation Party advocates decentralization, federalism (Dōshūsei), and limited government policies. It argues to remove defense spending limits, and stands with the LDP on revising the constitution. The party also supports socially liberal policies such as expanded LGBTQ protections and same-sex marriages, while also backing free high school education. The party has represented a form of right-wing populism that until 2025 opposed the LDP's entrenched control over Japanese politics and bureaucracy, known as the 1955 System.
History
In August 2015, Secretary General Kakizawa Mito endorsed a candidate jointly backed by the Japanese Communist Party and the Democratic Party of Japan in the Yamagata mayoral election, exposing internal divisions within the Restoration Party. On 28 August, Tōru Hashimoto and his close ally and advisor, Osaka Governor Ichirō Matsui, announced their departure from the party. The following day, Hashimoto declared his intent to establish a new political party. The announcement was supported by House of Councillors member Toranosuke Katayama and other Osaka-based lawmakers. Plans were made to call the new party the "Osaka Restoration Party" (), and preparations began for a formal split from the existing party structure.
By October, the talks had broken down, prompting the national leadership of the Japan Innovation Party to expel members of the Diet and local assemblies who were expected to align with Hashimoto's new group. However, Osaka-based Diet members contested the expulsions, arguing they were legally invalid since, after 1 October, the party no longer had a valid executive structure. As a result, the expelled members filed a formal appeal against the decision. In protest, five House of Councillors members, affiliated with Katayama, voluntarily withdrew from the parliamentary faction on 16 October, forming a new "Restoration Party (House of Councillors)" faction.
On 31 October 2015, Hashimoto and Matsui officially launched during a meeting in Osaka, following their departure from the Japan Innovation Party. The name was derived from the Osaka Restoration Association, also founded by Hashimoto, but distinguished by the use of hiragana () instead of kanji (). Hashimoto was named party leader, Matsui became secretary-general, and 19 Diet members—mostly from Osaka—joined the new party. The "Osaka Restoration Association" was officially registered on 2 November.
The first significant election contested by the party was the July 2016 House of Councillors election. The party saw strong results in the Kansai region, winning two of the four seats in the Osaka at-large district and one of three in the Hyogo at-large district. In the national proportional representation block, the party placed fifth with 5,153,584 votes (9.2%), earning 4 out of 48 seats. The party's support was especially concentrated in Osaka, where it received 1,293,626 votes (34.9%), and it ranked second in Hyogo Prefecture with 470,526 votes (19.5%). The gains positioned the party as the third-largest opposition force in the National Diet.
Despite success in Kansai, Matsui declared the party's overall performance insufficient for a national political force. On 12 July, he announced plans to rename the party to broaden its appeal across Japan. An internal poll among Diet members and regional representatives shortlisted three names, with "Nippon Ishin no Kai" (Japan Restoration Party) emerging as the most supported. On 23 August 2016, during a special convention in Osaka City, the party formally adopted the new name: . Matsui continued as party leader, and the party unveiled a new logo similar to its previous design, replacing the word "Osaka" with "Japan."
2017 elections In January 2017, Nippon Ishin no Kai announced plans to field candidates for the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election scheduled for that summer. However, after Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike and her party, the Tokyo Citizens First Association, declared they would not coordinate efforts, potential post-election cooperation was considered. On 22 June, Vice President Kimi Watanabe publicly expressed support for the Tokyo Citizens First Association and resigned. He was expelled from the party that same day. In the July 2 Tokyo Assembly election, despite support from party leader Matsui and Osaka Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura, only one of Ishin's four official candidates was elected, leaving its seat count unchanged. On 30 September, the Kibō no Tō (Party of Hope) was established with Matsui named its representative. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike announced electoral cooperation between her party and Ishin for the 48th general election on 22 October. As part of the agreement, the Party of Hope did not run candidates in Osaka, while Ishin withdrew its Tokyo candidates.
On 6 February, Yutaka Hasegawa, a former Fuji TV announcer, joined the party. On 28 January, he was named the branch chief for the Chiba 1st district and declared his candidacy for the next House of Representatives election. On 25 March, the party held its annual convention in Tokyo for the first time—traditionally held in Osaka—in anticipation of the upcoming election. During the event, six official candidates and the party's Tokyo manifesto were announced.
During the general election on 22 October, the party secured only three seats, all from single-member districts in Osaka Prefecture, and faced challenges in its stronghold, ultimately obtaining 11 seats, including eight proportional representation seats, down from 14 in the previous election. The absence of Hashimoto, the former representative, the unsuccessful alliance with the Party of Hope, and the rise of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan were cited as contributing factors to this outcome. On 26 January, Hodaka Maruyama, a member of the House of Representatives, tweeted: "Regardless of Representative Matsui's re-election, we need a summary of the Sakai mayoral election, the House of Representatives election, and the representative election." When Hashimoto called for a representative election, he remarked, "You won because Mr. Matsui is the governor. There's a way to express your desire to be elected. Bokeh!" He also stated, "It's detrimental to my mental health to interact with a Diet member who makes foolish comments. I despise such parliamentarians," and declared his resignation as a legal advisor to the Japan Restoration Association.
Maruyama countered with accusations of "voter slander" and intolerance for being falsely represented. He initially submitted a resignation notice, but after Ishin retained the notice, Maruyama retracted it in January 2018. On 28 January, the Standing Committee convened, and an extraordinary party convention was scheduled for November according to the party statute. The convention's agenda included a policy decision on whether to conduct a representative election. On 25 November, following the general election results, an extraordinary party congress took place. The majority voted against holding a representative election, and Ichiro Matsui was confirmed to continue in his representation role.
2019 unified local elections and House of Councillors election On 23 January 2019, the House of Councillors representatives formed a unified parliamentary faction with the Party of Hope. Consequently, the total number of members reached 15, including Kazuyuki Yamaguchi who had joined the Restoration Party that month, overtaking the Japan Communist Party's 14 members to become the third-largest opposition party. During the 19th unified local elections in April, the Party of Hope was joined by New Party Daichi in Hokkaido and Tax Reduction Japan in Aichi Prefecture. In Osaka Prefecture, the stronghold, Governor Matsui was elected as the mayor of Osaka, while Mayor Yoshimura won the gubernatorial election, both securing large margins over their opponents. The Osaka Prefectural Assembly and City Council saw an increase in seats, yet the party failed to win any prefectural elections outside its base, highlighting a limited national reach.
After the passing of House of Representatives member Tomokatsu Kitagawa from the Liberal Democratic Party, Fujita Fumitake emerged victorious in the by-election for Osaka's 12th district on 21 April 2019. He triumphed over competitors including Shinpei Kitagawa, who is the nephew of the late Kitagawa, as well as Shinji Tarutoko and Takeshi Miyamoto. On 14 May, during a visa-free visit to the Four Northern Islands as part of an exchange project, Hodaka Maruyama disrupted a reporter's interview with islanders. He suggested "recapture by war" to resolve the Northern Territories issue. Maruyama refused to accept his resignation notice, and the board of directors subsequently expelled him. Following this, a bipartisan resolution condemning Maruyama's actions was submitted and unanimously passed in the House of Representatives on June 6.
2020: Tokyo gubernatorial election, second referendum rejection, and Matsui's retirement from politics In the Tokyo gubernatorial election on 5 July 2020, Taisuke Ono, the former Deputy Governor of Kumamoto Prefecture, was a recommended candidate. Although a relative unknown, he secured 610,000 votes. However, he narrowly missed the threshold to retain his deposit, finishing in fourth place. Concurrently, in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly by-election, official candidates were fielded in the Kita Ward and Ota Ward constituencies, but both were defeated, with two LDP candidates winning the seats.
On 1 November 2020, the second referendum on the Osaka Metropolitan Plan, a key policy of Ishin no Kai, was rejected by a majority. That same day, Matsui announced his plan to retire from politics at the end of his mayoral term in April 2023. He also stated his resignation as president of the regional "Osaka Ishin no Kai", appointing Hirofumi Yoshimura as his successor. As for "Ishin no Kai" the national political party, he expressed a desire to consider his role separately from the Osaka Ishin no Kai and indicated he would continue in his position for the time being.
2021: Local elections, breakthrough at the 2021 general election, and new executive team Local elections In the Hokkaido 2nd district by-election on 25 April 2021, following Takamori Yoshikawa's resignation from the Liberal Democratic Party, former provincial councilor Izumi Yamazaki was defended. Muneo Suzuki, leader of the Hokkaido Restoration Party, supported the defense, stating "a conservative centrist receptacle is necessary" after the Liberal Democratic Party's defeat. However, Kenko Matsuki was elected, with Yamazaki finishing third and Yoshiko Tsuruha, an independent, as the runner-up.