There is plenty of reason to believe that the Party of Hope, which is the second-largest opposition party in the House of Representatives, is not long for this world. However, it remains unclear at this moment where its collection of centrist and rightwing lawmakers will end up going.
The Nukaga Faction with its 55 lawmakers is the third largest of the ruling party’s factions. The turmoil could potentially have an impact on the Liberal Democratic Party presidential race in September, in which Shinzo Abe will seek an unprecedented third term against one or more challengers.
The agreement to unify the opposition Party of Hope and the Democratic Party into a single parliamentary caucus collapsed ignominiously after only two days.
Fascist author Naoki Hyakuta extends his attacks to millions of ordinary Japanese.
Whether it be the Lockheed Scandal of the 1970s, the Recruit Scandal of the 1980s, or the more recent misadventures that shook the Abe administration, such as the fall of prominent ministers Akira Amari and Yuko Obuchi, the issue of “money and politics” is a theme that runs like a steam train through the center of postwar Japanese political history.
The 2017 general election shows that the Japanese floating voter favors the bold.
So this is how democracy dies—in a painfully boring press conference.
Yuriko Koike is well positioned to give the ruling party a run for its money.
The hope that Renho had inspired was all-too-quickly dashed by a do-nothing record of leadership.
The Abe government’s electoral dominance over the opposition parties has transformed from an impressively stable administration into a veritable school of corruption.
