The election in the U.S. is finally over, and I’m sure everyone is happy to have it behind them. Unfortunately the election cycle is just about to begin for people in Japan, as Prime Minister Noda has indicated he will dissolve the Diet this year. The main question in the election will be, will the currently ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) maintain the control of the government it won in 2009, or will the pro-business, more conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which ruled the country for most of the postwar period, return to power. Things aren’t looking too good for the DPJ, which made extensive promises to its supporters in its “manifesto” to get elected, most of which had to be discarded as “difficult to implement” after they got into power. The party has proven rather inept at diplomacy, which has caused strain with the U.S. over Okinawa, and it’s widely perceived that the problems with China and Korea have been caused in part by the weakness of the DPJ’s leadership. The wild card in the election might be Shintaro “The Only Japanese Politician Whose Name You Probably Know” Ishihara, the former Tokyo governor and manga-hater. He recently created his own national political party, the Sunrise Party, and is in negotiations to try to join forces with several other small political parties.
This is a moe poster remining voers to vote in the Fukushima regional elections
