With the financial crisis still putting fears of unemployment in the Japanese society, the political development seems to be favoring the Democratic Party over the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
Japanese political landscape is quite interesting, because the Liberal Democratic Party has been for most of the time the ruling party of Japan since 1955. This has largely due to some of the unique characteristics of the Japanese society and the successful adaptation of the Liberal Democratic Party to structure itself to meet various demands from all levels of society.
However, with the recent polls showing a favorable popularity of the Democratic Party, it seems that the long political domination of the Liberal Democratic Party might be over. Of course, there are some questions to whether the Democratic Party would be able to maintain its power once the general election is over, but it seems the Japanese public is not in a hurry to reelect the Liberal Democratic Party any time soon.
Some of the key questions I am interested in are mainly the shift of Japanese foreign policy. How would the new face of Japan deal differently with the on-going diplomatic dance with North Korea? Would they be softer or maintain the hard stance against the Stalinist regime?
Also, would the new ruling party distance itself to the Japanese Imperialist past? This subject has been critical, because it brings unfavorable diplomatic feedback from especially both South Korea and China. On a similar note, would the Democratic Party go beyond and give a firm and sincere apology for the damning past?
The general election is on August 30th, and there could be a possible situation that could keep the Liberal Democratic Party in power. However, I am already looking at the Democratic Party as the new face of Japan.
