Abe's bid to capitalize on weak opposition sparks clash of conservatives

While Koike is a conservative, she definitely is not a part of the good ol' boys network. I like the buzz being created around what the DJP has done, and Koike's willingness to take in some of their members.

Been a while since I was happy to see an election, but this one should be interesting to say the least!

I agree with you Yubaru, Koike is wise to pick and choose who she wants to join, as yesterday she stated she didn't want any of the former DPJ leaders to join here party, but what happens to them then? Also, while conservative, they seem to be more interested in the well being of the people, and not just the good old boys as Abe has been want to do. I think that will resonate with city voters, but as for the outlying areas, they will continue to vote for Abe and JA, which dominate rural politics.

Many voters seem dismayed at the waste of money and time for another election so soon to Abe’s discredit. The timing of the election is working both for and against Abe, if Koike can get young and women voters out of the house and off their devices she has a good chance. Interesting month ahead either way it goes.

Abe made a bad move to refresh himself from the scandals. It is an unnecessary election. LDP already enjoys enough numbers of representatives. People are getting bored with Abe and many of LDP who were elected in the proportional system will lose their seats.

None of these articles can name a platform, much less a political ideology, that differs from LDP. Anti-nuclear is the one area? Really? So DPJ members blow with the wind of politics and really never believed anything? They're ready to become right-wing suddenly because of today's fleeting political realities? You see that Japanese politicians don't really believe in much do they? Cynical, unimaginative, lacking conviction, MPs are a pack of unprincipled sheep ready to believe anything and fight for nothing.

"Ms Koike's entry into the fray has shifted the focus of the debate from how the extra tax revenue should be used to whether or not the tax should be raised in the first place, and this has made things very difficult for Mr Abe," Komiya said. Abe's promise to redirect more tax revenue to make raising children easier "might be easy to accept for young families, but in the end reducing taxes appeals to all generations," he said.

The LDP has been using some version of this since 1998 to justify every tax raise in a country that is already overtaxed. Go Koike-San.

Let's hope the people of Japan have good memories and focus on the lack of follow-through in all of Abe's campaign promises and they don't vote solely on the NK situation. He's done nothing about increasing child and aged care, has not got women back into the workforce, has done nothing about labor reforms for equal pay, the economy is even more stagnant than when he took over, domestic spending has dropped between 10-25% depending on the sector, salaried have not increased, his three arrows of economic reform are three arrows of BS that have not been initiated and, he touted the sales tax increase as a way to pay off the public debt, which never happened. The only things he has done are, cut corporate taxes to put more money in the cronies pockets, he twice borrowed money from the BOJ further increasing the public debt. He is a total fraud! He managed to dodge the bullets in the schools scandals, but of course he was involved in them. I sincerely doubt the DPJ and Koike's party will gain enough seats to overthrow the LDP, but let's hope they gain enough seats to rattle some cages.

Disillusioned: "Let's hope the people of Japan have good memories"

You're kidding yourself if you think they ever will. Most can't even remember who was popular last week that they were into, never mind remembering how much they've griped about the current state of affairs. THe politicians know this, and that's why they can get away with being two separate parties that are exactly the same, and if opposition feels they are losing, they just change names again. And needless to say, why Abe can constantly lie and change just before elections and then again just after. No one remembers, or at least they pretend not to. It's rampant in all elements of life here.

Abe's promise to redirect more tax revenue to make raising children easier "might be easy to accept for young families, but in the end reducing taxes appeals to all generations," he said. if raising children isnt supported then people just wont have them or just have one. without children Japan has no future , it also wont have any future taxpayers for government revenue and to support the elderly in retirement. seriously too many fools here that cant see past their own noses when it comes to planning Japans future, a future thats looking increasing grim.

I fear a dire aspect of futuristic and open-minded politics of Japan if it is two major conservative parties (LDP and KnT) who will compromise the two chambers after the election! Conservatism is a "friendly" ideology, but tend to become more arrogant and intolerant in the long run. As happened with Abe.

I doubt what the country really need is another conservative party! More than just another conservative party is needed in order to erase Abe's influence of 5-6 years in office. Koike herself said that she will not scrap the Security Bill from 2015! She'll probably keep the Anti-conspiracy bill as well. In the end, the political environment of Japan I think is set to change little from the LDP-era.