For an explanation of my purpose in making this guide, see here. For previous installments, see here and here.North Kanto is comprised of four prefectures to the north of Tokyo: Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, and Saitama. These prefectures have a total of thirty-two single-member districts, and the block has twenty proportional representation seats. Saitama is by …
Tag: Japanese politics
Another Koizumi child leaves the LDP
As expected, despite their tenuous position in the party (and their bleak electoral prospects), the LDP has not seen young reformists rush to exit the party and sign on with Watanabe Yoshimi's Your Party.Only a small number has left, one by one, and with only a week until the campaign officially begins, presumably not many …
The DPJ holds strong in polls
With eight days until the campaign officially begins, the DPJ continues to hold a commanding position in public opinion polls.A recent Sankei/FNN poll found that the DPJ's approval rating as a party increased three points to 31%, compared with the LDP's 22%, the DPJ is the party of choice in PR voting for 44.6% of …
Nakagawa Shoichi in trouble
As a follow-up to Saturday's review of the races in Hokkaido, this story from Hokkaido should be of interest.Nakagawa Shoichi, the former finance minister who I suggested faces an uphill battle for reelection in Hokkaido's eleventh district, went before a meeting of his koenkai to declare that from henceforth he will abstain from alcohol (cold …
On Radio Australia
I appeared in a long segment on the general election on Radio Australia's Connect Asia program. Have a listen here.
Tohoku, Ozawa’s backyard
The Tohoku regional block is comprised of Aomori, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima — and Iwate, Ozawa Ichiro's "fiefdom." These six prefectures combine to elect thirty-nine Diet members, twenty-five from single-member districts and fourteen from proportional representation. In 2005, the LDP won seventeen of twenty-five SMDs, with the DPJ taking seven and an independent winning the …
2009 general election open thread
With eight days until the campaign officially begins, feel free to post things seen and heard around Japan.
Hokkaido, a DPJ stronghold
In 2005, the DPJ managed to win eight of twelve single-member districts in Hokkaido, while equaling the LDP with three of the block's eight proportional representation seats. By receiving three of eight seats, the DPJ in Hokkaido outperformed the DPJ nationwide, winning 33% of the vote and 37.5% of the seats, compared with 31.02% of …
Will the DPJ win a majority?: a survey of the 2009 general election
In 2007, I reviewed the twenty-nine single-seat upper house races and offered a prediction (or, rather, a range) that actually proved too optimistic as far as the LDP was concerned.Rather than review the races in the 300 single-member districts, I've decided that I will look at the state of the races in each of the …
Continue reading Will the DPJ win a majority?: a survey of the 2009 general election
The Ozawa dilemma
Lurking in the background of the debate over how the DPJ will change the policymaking process should it take power is a question that cuts to the very heart of how the DPJ will govern: what will the DPJ do with Ozawa Ichiro?The idea that in a mere three months Hatoyama Yukio has imposed a …
Tobias S. Harris 