Ungovernable Japan Heads to Election

Opposition DPJ, calling for “change”, has a good chance of winning.
Mario Canseco – When Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi prepared for his retirement from public life in 2006, support for his cabinet remained above the 50 per cent mark. He had just overseen the privatization of Japan Post—the cornerstone of his domestic policy portfolio—and had faced the harshest criticism not for his management capabilities, but for his decision to visit the controversial Yasukuni Shrine. Koizumi left office as Japan’s third-longest serving post-war leader, and his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is still struggling to rule without him almost three years later.