The election for Japan's lower house is on October 31.

The chamber's 465 seats are up for grabs.

The ruling coalition in the old parliament

  • 265 seats held by leading partner the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) under new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida
  • Komeito Party

The LDP need at least 233 seats to hold a majority itself (465/2 = 232.5)

New PM Kishida has already nudged the party away from Abenomics towards his more inclusive vision of spreading wealth a little more widely amongst workers. I'll leave the nuances up to the Japan politicos but the upshot is Kishida has promised more, and more targeted, fiscal support. So far there is no indication of any alteration to BOJ policy.

I'll keep an eye on polls, FWIW of course, on approach.