India, Feb. 9 -- Polls opened on Sunday in parliamentary elections that Japan's popular Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hopes will give her struggling party a big enough win to push through an ambitious conservative political agenda. Takaichi is hugely popular, but the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which has governed Japan for most of the last seven decades, has struggled with funding and religious scandals.

She called Sunday's snap elections only after three months in office, hoping to turn that around before her popularity fades. She wants to make progress on a right-wing agenda that aims to boost Japan's economy and military capabilities as tensions grow with China. She also wants to nurture ties with her crucial US ally, and a somet...