dpj

More importantly for the DPJ, it may bolster the party's popularity, which has withered after its election landslide a year ago.

Japan under the DPJ seems to get on better with China than it does with its ally and security guarantor, the United States.

As a fringe benefit for the DPJ, which tends to back Japan's trade unions, it also wins the party friends in business.

The DPJ recognizes this as a problem, but given its own political environment, it hasn't been able to deal with it.

Asia has about a year to see whether or not the DPJ can act on its promises and change Japan.

The DPJ won just 44 seats, ten less than it had hoped for and well short of a majority, even in league with its small coalition partner.

For the good of Japanese democracy, not to mention its own future, the DPJ must reject Mr Ozawa and all that he stands for.

Meanwhile, the DPJ's leader, Ichiro Ozawa, who used to have a reformist streak, now sounds like an old-style LDP boss.

Another youthful force which did well in the elections was Your Party, formed less than a year ago by disgruntled LDP and DPJ types.

The DPJ says it will find the money by eliminating waste, but Keidanren, at least, thinks that will not be enough.

And the DPJ verges dangerously close to believing that this matters less than the redistribution of wealth.

However, Mr. Kan continued to deny any intention to leave office, even as he conceded the DPJ's defeat in the April elections.

It was vital, she said, that Mr Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) continued to tell voters that it felt their pain.

Without a big majority, a dominant party like the DPJ can easily get bogged down in parliament.

' Yet another tweeted: 'Due to the DPJ, democracy and the notion of a nation's sovereignty are about to be lost.

Not only does this deflect some of the heat onto the DPJ's rivals, but it may also put the DPJ in a stronger position after the elections.

Electing the DPJ is still plainly a risk: the party is inexperienced and, like the LDP, an improbably broad church.

Mr Fukuda last night said the blocking tactics of the DPJ meant the situation had become untenable.

Almost half of those voted in for the DPJ were first-time candidates, with an average age of less than 46.

Half of its seats are up for grabs, and a poor showing will make it harder for the DPJ to pass legislation.

DPJ politicians in the party's "realist" faction think that China must be made to understand that it cannot rattle its sabre with impunity.

They are trying to get right-leaning members of the DPJ to defect to a new party.

Yet his rivals in the DPJ, a good many of whom are lowly first-time lawmakers, seem to fear a general election as much as he does.

So will the DPJ be able to excite voters enough to convince them of the need for change?

But Japan's problems are so ingrained that the DPJ has so far been unable to do much.

The DPJ platform calls for an increase in aid to develop Asia as a way of helping bolster those middle-class consumers.

But the DPJ has lost traction, caught up in money scandals reminiscent of the venal era of LDP rule.

But Mr Ubukata believes such a system is a waste of the many backbenchers among the DPJ's 423 elected politicians.

With its tighter party discipline, the DPJ can establish a mechanism that gives good policy a chance of becoming law.

In a recent survey, support for the DPJ was more than twice that for the LDP.

Though Mr Ozawa has relinquished his role as the DPJ head, few expect him to give up his role as the power behind the throne.

When he became DPJ president in 2006, he transformed it from an entity once mocked as amateurish into a formidable opponent to the LDP.

He is expected to be approved as prime minister on Tuesday through a vote in the Diet's lower house, where the DPJ has a majority.

Among sectors that may perform well are those that would benefit from an increase in consumer spending, one of the DPJ's main policy planks.

Victory for Mr Ozawa in a DPJ leadership election set for Tuesday would not spell the end of mutual suspicions .

All this meant that foreign policy in the DPJ's first year in office focused mainly on the strained relationship with America.

In the short run, all this is bad news, particularly if the DPJ draws the wrong lesson and shelves discussion of a consumption tax.

Hence Mr Ozawa controls the biggest group among the DPJ's 412 members of parliament, and their vote is likely to be decisive.

That unsettled a public which had voted the DPJ into power primarily for economic reasons.

But other dynamics might also be at work. If the LDP becomes too hawkish, says Mr Kato, then New Komeito could desert it for the DPJ.

As one US commentator says of the DPJ's likely posture towards Washington: "Sit, stand, bark! They're just not going to do that any more. "

Mr Aso is unlikely to use the DPJ's disarray to call a snap election. Voters might punish such opportunism.

At the other end of the spectrum, sceptical reports point to the DPJ's more liberal attitudes as a potential source of trouble.

The straight-talking man of the people seemed everything that his predecessor, the first DPJ prime minister, was not.

Some argue that even the DPJ's plans to freeze spending at 2010 levels may be too austere for such a fragile economy.

The opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) clearly sees Japan as a regional Asian power, and no longer a nation tied only to the West.

So the DPJ would have only a year to show some success.

'It may take at least a few months before the market can have a better idea of what a DPJ-led economy may look like. '

Mr Ozawa's decision to clear his name while clinging to his exalted position in the DPJ has already started to spatter the party with mud.

"Unfortunately, 'politics with a deep grudge' remain within the DPJ, " says Toshikawa.

The DPJ, however, intends to create a state-funded safety net. That would remove one of the biggest obstacles to change.

The DPJ shift to policies that boosted consumption was the right move, and an electoral asset.

For Mr Kan, whose Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) ended the LDP's long grip on power in 2009, the opposition is just one of many headaches.

A proposal in the summer to double the consumption tax from 5% led to a crushing setback for the DPJ in legislative elections.

During a stint as leader of the DPJ in 2005, Mr Maehara described China's military expansion as a "real threat" to Japan.

The DPJ will now step up its preparations for lower-house elections, which are to be held before October, probably in July or August.

The opposition DPJ has been growing in confidence and popular support, though it has failed to clinch victory.

The 200-odd Antarctic whalers and the bureaucrats that back them are just the kind of special interest the DPJ claims to take on.

Too often, the DPJ thinks, conservative governments lined up with Washington even when they believed its policies to be misguided.

That would deprive the DPJ and its tiny coalition partner, the People's New Party, of a majority in the upper house.

In the lower house, the DPJ lacks the magic two-thirds majority that would have allowed it to bypass the upper house.

A year ago, when the DPJ's Yukio Hatoyama was prime minister, Mr Yosano wrote a book called "The DPJ Destroys Japan's Economy" .

Meanwhile, far from offering something new, the DPJ has taken on the trappings of the old LDP.

The DPJ's rating was up 6 percentage points from the previous survey a week earlier.

If the DPJ does start tackling international problems, it will find it has plenty of resources at its disposal.

Within the Diet, some small parties are winning popularity at the expense of the flailing DPJ and the discredited LDP.

The decision making model under "Parties System Since 1955" cannot be applied to DPJ government.

Last summer the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) won unprecedented control of the upper house of the Diet (parliament).

The DPJ's pledge on taking office was to make policy decisions itself and ensure bureaucrats acted on those.

But a deal, the Obama administration insisted to the DPJ, was a deal.

Mr Kan is expected to command a strong lead among the DPJ's 340, 000 members and supporters.

Okada, 57, shares Maehara's background as a one-time foreign minister and DPJ president, and is in favor of the government's fiscal reforms.

There are three reasons to believe that this vote marks a big change. The first is the scale of the DPJ's victory.

The winner of the DPJ election is expected to be confirmed as prime minister today.

The DPJ was formed as an umbrella for various groups that shared only one common goal: defeat the LDP and obtain power.

Now the DPJ is in power, it will have to forget such foolishness and drink from the fountain of realpolitik.

Growth is imperative, whether the DPJ acknowledges it or not.

The DPJ is keen to differentiate itself from the LDP in almost every respect, and foreign policy is no exception.

Barely a year ago the DPJ looked unfit to lead Japan.

Jubilant cries of Banzai! echoed around the DPJ's victorious campaign offices.

Clearly, he is concerned that Mr Ozawa might direct a stealth attack on his government during the DPJ's leadership elections in September.

"I told him that in this way we can create a new DPJ, a cleaner DPJ, " he said.

The LDP and the prime minister's DPJ had forged a political solidarity in the face of the country's worst natural disaster in modern times.

Opinion polls show that voters, however much they despair of the DPJ, are increasingly turned off by the other parties too.

Yet, says Yoshihiko Noda, a DPJ colleague, that is not the point.

Yet even before the arrests, many DPJ members feared Mr Ozawa would be a liability as prime minister.

Third, the DPJ's ability to stall and ultimately thwart the anti-terror legislation is not a temporary phenomenon.

At the same time, DPJ members privately admit that this is a formidable bunch for the party's bruising head, Ichiro Ozawa, to fight.

But the memory of his leadership still haunts the DPJ and may damage its electoral prospects.

AFTER five weeks in power, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) is still enjoying a honeymoon.

Whatever happens, his knowledge of the LDP and its tactics might prove invaluable to the DPJ were it to win office.

Since the DPJ has a huge majority in the more-powerful lower house, it will remain the ruling party despite Sunday's setback.

Yukio Hatoyama, the first DPJ premier, also proposed an East Asian Community, in which Japan, China and South Korea would take the lead.

These parties would certainly cause trouble if the DPJ decides to ditch unrealistic electoral promises in favour of sensible government.

Since the DPJ came to power, eight of the 34 prefectures that originally supported the move have changed their minds.

Yet much of the DPJ's economic programme remains sketchy, improbable or downright unrealistic.

What's more, Mr Ubukata complains, Mr Ozawa controls all the DPJ's funds and allocates them to his most loyal supporters.

Some DPJ politicians claim it is a way for the LDP to thwart the opposition, which enjoys more support from younger, wired voters.

When push comes to shove, the DPJ is likely to walk away from many of these positions.

Lacking an ideological anchor, bickering factions are the DPJ's chief organising principle.

The DPJ's handling of its internal critics over the voting-rights bill is a big test of Mr Hatoyama's courage and political principle.

The possibility of taking over the reins of government is, however, showing little sign of energising the DPJ.

On foreign policy, the DPJ has signaled closer regional integration with East Asian nations, particularly neighboring China.

"It could be a bomb to destroy both the DPJ and the LDP, " says Takeshi Sasaki of Gakushuin University in Tokyo.

More worrying, analysts say, it may undermine the DPJ's chances of winning a full majority in upper-house elections in July.

But the DPJ leadership post at stake next month is chosen by party members, not the public.

He is a six-term elected member of the lower house of the Diet and has served in prominent posts within the DPJ.

"Some people, including me, regard Mr Ozawa as the symbol of old politics, " says Keisuke Tsumura, a DPJ lawmaker.

Bond traders worry the DPJ can't pay for its program without breaking a promise not to issue more government bonds.

The opposition will also exploit suspicions over his use of party funds. Others may challenge Mr Kan for the DPJ leadership in September.

After that, with the LDP out of power, pressure will fall on the DPJ to perform.

The DPJ is eclectic, comprised of former LDP politicians, ex-bureaucrats, socialists, right-wingers and reformers.

Second, the DPJ flopped mainly because candidates backing better government and pro-market growth did especially well.

The policy implications of a DPJ victory remain largely unclear.

The administration is expected to include two minor parties, giving the DPJ majorities in both houses of parliament.

The comments by Mr Fujii highlight the far-reaching policy implications of the DPJ's victory in last month's election.

But the DPJ is already a broad church, encompassing socialists, social democrats and former members of the ruling party.

But the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), which controls the upper house of parliament, rejected them.

But some DPJ party members have called for a policy of "equidistance" between China and the US.

The few reports available that try to analyse what a DPJ victory will mean for China are ambivalent in their conclusions.

U. S. and Japanese officials already have agreed to move an unpopular facility in Okinawa, but the DPJ favors moving it farther away.

At the same time, the DPJ and its platform will face deep skepticism from voters eager for new leadership but uncertain about change.

The high command of Mr Kan's party would be staunchly opposed, fearing the DPJ would lose.

But that will happen only if the DPJ grows bold enough to lead the way.

On the one hand the DPJ demands accountability, and promises to break bureaucrats' backs to get it.

During the campaign, the DPJ promised monthly stipends of around $260 to families for each child attending primary school.

Unless the DPJ makes a fresh start next year with a new cabinet, it will face political turmoil.

A limited move to enfranchise them came from the very top of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).

Yet it is unlikely to alienate the politically powerful postal workers, whose votes on July 11th will be very important to the DPJ.

They included a taste for the Machiavellian in the exercise of power that undermined the DPJ 's formal governance.

The DPJ won a landslide victory last September, ending decades of rule by the Liberal Democratic party.

The opposition will urge the DPJ to abandon pledges to introduce a child-support allowance and eliminate toll-road fees.

But Mr. Kan told DPJ lawmakers Thursday that Ozawa's candidacy was a positive move.

The DPJ will need to build consensus among its own members and remain cautious of upsetting voters with overly drastic changes.

Yet he is also widely seen as a dark presence, whose role hardly squares with the DPJ's vows to make Japanese politics more open.

The DPJ's leaders dispatched hundreds of its MPs to pay court to Beijing.

The [DPJ] assumes that Japan and China can share leadership of an East Asian community.

Yet the DPJ's suggestion that it wants to forge a new, more equal US alliance has unnerved Washington.

The DPJ is approaching the problem from a more promising "demand-side" strategy.

Reports say the loss to the opposition Democratic Party (DPJ) could lead Mr Aso to dissolve parliament this week.

Unlike the LDP, the DPJ government will not have to fight off a parallel party power structure when it makes policy.

Both the LDP and parts of the DPJ have reacted scathingly to the appointment.

Yoshio Maki, a DPJ lawmaker who opposes granting South Korea's "special residents" local voting rights, believes it is a non-starter.

He mentions coyly that New Komeito has recently been eager to talk to the DPJ.

In the campaign the DPJ was forced to abandon its plan to start free-trade talks with America, after lobbying from farmers.

All this has a bearing on the DPJ today.

Small wonder, then, that he is not well liked in some DPJ corners, and even less so among the public.

The DPJ hopes to revive a bill it submitted in June that would ban political donations by corporations, unions and other groups.

He has already met with the US ambassador to Japan, underscoring the DPJ's commitment to keeping the US-Japan relationship a top priority.

The DPJ promises to rebuild the budget-making process from scratch, going through programmes line by line.

In 2000, he regained a seat he had lost in a 1996 election, this time as a member of the DPJ.

A member of the shadow cabinet says the DPJ is holding its fire for the budget fight.

Now the DPJ, especially Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, seeks to correct this imbalance.

Yet the imminent victory of the DPJ is more than a political realignment. It also marks a generational shift.

If the DPJ wins the largest share of the vote, a political realignment may well ensue.

The DPJ remains the largest party in both chambers, but it is 16 seats short of an upper-house majority (see chart).

Mr Curtis, of Columbia University, notes that neither the DPJ nor the LDP enjoys a core group of supporters.

He says many in the DPJ are willing to give them the vote, but fear that if they did, Chinese Japanese would want to follow suit.

Yet the DPJ won its landslide victory thanks in large part to the support of unions and rural districts.

The DPJ has won a string of local contests in recent weeks, with significantly increased turnouts.

He expressesheartfeltheartfelt appreciation for the support that was shown to him, especially by the DPJ's rank and file.

A glance at the outcome in July's election might convince DPJ holdouts that reform serves them.

But that informal style of politics is just what the DPJ promises to break with.

How Mr Hatoyama both motivates bureaucrats and punishes them when they step out of line will make or break the DPJ.

The DPJ is honour-bound to take another look.

In this regard, he suggested, Hatoyama and the DPJ were behind the curve and faced a sharp reality check.

On the threshold of balloting, it isn't clear if the DPJ can oust the city's ruling coalition, which now holds 70 Assembly seats.

The DPJ, meanwhile, is a coalition of social democrats and disgruntled LDP ex-members.

So it will be extraordinarily hard for the DPJ to cobble together enough support to pass legislation.

The manifesto is central to the DPJ's credibility. That, in itself, is a first for Japan.

Mr Ozawa may have helped win the DPJ's thumping majority in last August's lower-house contest.

'It's impossible at this moment to quantify anything about the DPJ, since they've never been in office before, ' Mr. Fujita said.

The DPJ is set to use its majority in the lower house to appoint him as premier to succeed Naoto Kan as soon as tomorrow.

The DPJ was once expected to dramatically improve relations with China.

After a long consultation with Japan Inc on how to settle claims arising from the nuclear crisis, the DPJ has emerged with a fudge.

Taken together, the two statements expose the DPJ's inconsistency.

In his first, three-year stint as DPJ leader from 1999, he was criticised for being indecisive.

Concessions to Mr Ozawa's camp could be smart if they prevent the DPJ from fracturing.

There will be more destruction, perhaps including the demise of both the LDP and DPJ and the formation of new parties.

In one way, the DPJ has reason to be grateful to Mr Koizumi.

FOR the second time in less than six weeks the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) is engaged in some deep soul searching.

Observers note that most of the DPJ's campaign has focused on domestic issues.

Scrapping it would anger a small coalition partner of the DPJ that is passionately opposed to privatisation.

Once the DPJ has kicked out the LDP, it should kick that foolish notion, too.

That, they say, might dissuade the LDP from blocking the DPJ every inch of the way.

The DPJ wants to reduce the tax rate for small firms from 18% to 11% (even though only one-third of them actually pay tax).

More important than the fate of the prime minister is the impact of the crisis on the DPJ.

Nevertheless his challenge carries grave risks for the DPJ and the country.

Yet the DPJ election, in which the party rank-and-file and local politicians have a vote, is mostly decided by the DPJ's 412 MPs.

The DPJ believes it needs Mr Kamei's support for upper-house elections this summer.

However the potential loss of the lower house to DPJ will create uncertainly for LPD to enact fiscal stimulus.

Other aspects of the DPJ's platform, such as an assault on the power of the bureaucracy, are well worth the applause.

Happily for the DPJ, it is not alone in demanding higher taxes.

When the DPJ won a landslide victory, Mr. Noda was given the position of vice finance minister.

The DPJ wants to boost consumer spending by reducing taxes and fees.

That may have partly been because voters have mixed feelings about the DPJ.

That line drew criticism from within the DPJ.

The huge sum includes the DPJ's campaign pledges, such as assistance for families, the poor and the unemployed.

But the DPJ's refusal to consider Mr Fukuda's proposals smacks of opportunism.

The DPJ won more than 300 seats against 120 for the Liberal Democrats, who've governed Japan for more than five decades.

Yet the DPJ may be less frightening in office than in prospect.

What is more, before it took power the DPJ lambasted the LDP for changing a string of prime ministers without holding a general election.

Though the DPJ is the largest party in the upper house, with 106 seats, it lacks a majority there.

He thinks the DPJ's leaders are fiscally more hawkish than the manifesto suggested.

In September 2009 the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) swept to power after a landslide election victory.

After six months in power, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has shied away from many of its promised reforms, such as spending cuts.

The defeat also reflected deep disappointment at the DPJ's performance since trouncing the long-ruling Liberal Democratic party last year.

So Mr Kan may now face a bitter DPJ leadership contest in September.

Yukio Hatoyama, the DPJ's secretary-general, promises "all-out war" , expecting to bring down the government by year-end.

The DPJ has drawn most of its support from this base, as did Mr Koizumi.

A more sobering lesson for the DPJ is that voters are sick of half-baked policy proposals.

The DPJ appeared set to gain more 300 out of 480 lower house seats in play.

If Mr Kan and the DPJ are lucky, then Wednesday's intervention will ease the short-term political pressure on the government.

Because of the party's strength in parliament, the DPJ head also is prime minister.

More likely, the DPJ and the LDP would simply fall into each other's arms like two old drunks.

Dpj supporters accuse him of betrayal.

The DPJ is traumatised by fear of internal strife.

Before then, he served as deputy finance minister from September 2009 when the DPJ took office.

This is perhaps the biggest surprise of Sunday's result: last September, when the DPJ drove it from power, the LDP was in tatters.

The second charge, of extremism, though, may yet damage the DPJ.

The DPJ wants Japan to reduce its carbon emissions by 25% below 1990 levels by 2020 (the LDP had called for a 15% cut; Keidanren wants 4%).

This may explain why the DPJ's lead has widened just before the election: the flexicon herd is migrating.

On April 10th the DPJ's troubles took their toll in regional and local elections.

These will be another milestone for the DPJ.

It is a tall order to expect the DPJ to reinvent the machinery of government overnight , or even in the four years it says it needs.

There have been some squalls in the bilateral relationship since the Democratic Party of Japan took office last year.

Because the DPJ has a majority on the panel, the vote is almost certain to go through.

The DPJ has a union wing well supported in rural areas.

If the DPJ wins (and it is ahead in opinion polls, see chart), it can expect dogged resistance from the LDP and its bureaucratic allies.

Financial types expect the yen to appreciate under the DPJ.

Because of the party's strength in parliament, the DPJ head is also prime minister.

The second thing the DPJ needs is self-restraint.

The DPJ, meanwhile, is proposing an increase in the minimum wage to Y1, 000 from about Y700 an hour.

It may well have undermined faith in the political transition the DPJ unleashed when it beat the Liberal Democrat Party (LDP) last year.

The DPJ could take as many as 320 of the chamber's 480 seats.

They are clinging to their jobs, more concerned with their own futures than that of the DPJ, or indeed Japan.

The poll of more than 190, 000 voters suggested the DPJ could win 321 seats in the more powerful lower house, up from the 112 it holds now.

During last year's parliamentary election the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) promised to move the installation elsewhere.

For some in the DPJ, this is one act of cynicism too far.

If the DPJ picks Mr Ozawa as Japan's next leader, it can expect no mercy.

After taking office last year, Japan's Democratic party-led government tried to improve relations with China.

When, ahead of upper-house elections last year, Mr Kan unexpectedly discussed a tax increase, voters punished the DPJ at the ballot box.

The DPJ not only put many new faces into power, it was going to change the nature of Japanese politics.

A wholesale political realignment in Japan may have to wait until the DPJ attains office and stumbles.

No disclosure document is available to show whether Nomura changed its donation practices after the DPJ took power last year.

That is why the victory of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) in last year's election should be a reason for hope.

The pacifist Social Democrats oppose all American military bases in Japan, a view the DPJ does not share.

In last year's election, the DPJ took 64% of the seats at stake.

Others in the DPJ firmly believe in Japan's pacifist constitution.

The DPJ's platform calls for re-examining the role of U. S. bases in Japan.