Mr. Ozawa, back at the helm of the DPJ — and apparently no longer estranged from the other party leaders — has fixed his attention squarely on a campaign that many seem to think will happen any day now (another "Happening Dissolution" [Japanese Wikipedia]).Accordingly, the DPJ is scrambling about to conclude the nomination process for …
Tag: LDP
Election talk
The second phase of the extraordinary session of the Diet has begun, and the talk is largely of snap elections and censure votes.Policy, as Jun Okumura suggests, has pretty much taken a back seat to politics as both parties continue to position themselves in the new political landscape.The immediate challenge is the prospect of the …
Political Japan’s never-ending year goes on
After this past week's drama, the LDP and the DPJ are now returning to business. US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is in town for his first visit since taking office, with a packed agenda of issues of concern; Nagata-cho is abuzz with rumors about an early election to be called by the LDP to …
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Ozawa in charge
Ozawa Ichiro addressed a conference of the DPJ's Upper and Lower House members on Wednesday, where he spoke at length about the crisis that saw him resign from the leadership of the party only to reverse his decision days later.He was, of course, exceedingly apologetic in his remarks, and, I think, exceedingly forthright in explaining …
The Ozawa era is over
It looks like Mr. Ozawa won't be fighting one more general election campaign after all.Facing outright chaos in the party due to the perception that he was willing to consider — even for a moment — a grand coalition with the LDP, Ozawa Ichiro, grand old man of Japanese politics, has announced his resignation as …
The Jiminto Rule Assistance Association?
The revelation that Prime Minister Fukuda is seeking a grand coalition with the DPJ has unleashed a flurry of political activity, as the parties and the Japanese people struggle to make sense of the swiftly changing political environment.DPJ backbenchers and rank-and-file supporters have come out resoundingly against the idea of joining a coalition with the …
Mr. Ozawa, just say no
Dear Mr. Ozawa,I never properly congratulated you on a job well done in the Upper House election campaign. Many doubted you, but you managed to show them that you know what the Japanese voters want to hear.But now, it seems, you're in the something of a bind. Maybe winning the Upper House wasn't such a …
Cooperation breaks out
One meeting between Mr. Fukuda and Mr. Ozawa, another scheduled for today, the MSDF's ships on their way home, and all of the sudden the political mood seems to be completely different.With the LDP eager to avoid a general election before September 2009 and the DPJ seemingly cognizant that it's not enough just to pass …
The return of the grand coalition (proposal)
After going into hiatus in the wake of Mr. Fukuda's election as LDP president, advocates of an LDP-DPJ grand coalition are making noise again. Feverish speculation about the meeting between Mr. Ozawa and Mr. Fukuda is focused on the idea that they were either a) planning a snap election or b) making plans for a …
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Bring on the family feud
Hatoyama Yukio, DPJ secretary-general and brother of justice minister Hatoyama Kunio, has responded to his brother's absurd comments about his "friend of a friend."This is the kind of thing we wonks were waiting for when Mr. Abe brought Kunio into the cabinet in August. Sooner or later there would be something that would require Yukio …
Tobias S. Harris 