The loss on Sunday left the Liberal Democrats a minority party in both houses of Parliament, while two new nationalist parties surged.

TOKYO -- The day after the drubbing of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Sunday's upper house election, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba struggled to contain party lawmakers increasingly critical of his decision to stay on.

Its leader is a former supermarket manager who created his political party on YouTube in the depths of the coronavirus pandemic and campaigned on the Trumpian message “Japanese First.”