Noda to dissolve Diet on Friday, hold election on Dec 16

Watched the debate on TV. Noda stood his ground quite well against an attacking Abe. But Abe didn't appear to promise much except for the pledge to lead the country back to prosperity.

Abe is saying let the voters decide. Thus, I hope the voters think wisely when making their choices. They must remember that the Liberal Democrats have done nothing for the past 13 or so years. Likewise for the New Komeito party. They were at the helm when Japan started sinking rapidly economically-wise.

As said previously, this should be an interesting election with quite a mix of parties battling it out for the right to do their thing in parliament. Just hope the right ones win ... whoever that might be.

Here we go...the gloves are coming off!

you mean butterflies in Abe's stomach?

Yubaru - what makes you think that Ozawa would ally with right wingers?

He is affiliated in opposition with the SDP - they despise him, as he does them.

Yubaru - what makes you think that Ozawa would ally with right wingers? He is affiliated in opposition with the SDP - they despise him, as he does them.

Ozawa and the rest are all a bunch of muti-faced politicians (liars) that changes spots as the need occurs. Ozawa and the rest will do anything to get their chance to be back in or leading the spotlight.

To think otherwise would be dangerous.

Wow - not often you see a prime minister spontaneously commit ritual suicide on TV.

Hey it's done. He promised to do and the sooner the better for both the LDP and DJP, if they had waited too much longer , Hashimoto, Ishihara and Ozawa would have too much time to gather their cronies and set up a 3rd major , nationalistic party to challenge for overall power.

Election will be Dec 16th.

Let's hope that the voters are smarter than their politicians.

The LDP led this country into the bubble and didn't do anything afterwards to make things better. Hatoyama was a loser. Kan could have made a difference, had the Nuclear Village not gotten the better of him. Noda is a straight shooter and could have achieved something in the interest of the people, but hey, ....

Hopeless.

Noda got stupidly goaded into this election.

Maybe but he has also been able to turn the circumstances to his favor insofar as he is able to present himself as decisive, principled, and standing up to the opposition.

Noda you idiot, you took the credit for making the unpopular move to double sales tax and now give the power back to the LDP to spend the money. The LDP is taking control next month getting more taxes without having to take the rap for raising them.

So now they are blackmailing each other

Just hope the right ones win ... whoever that might be.

Is there a right one?! I agree with you edojin: it will be interesting to observe. There will be votes splintered off everywhere I reckon, co-alitions will be more fragmented and weak. If Abe - in his newfound guise as "strongman" - does become PM as the pundits all predict, I reckon he will be a sitting duck and last even less time than his previous hilarious attempt at the job.

Here we go...the gloves are coming off!

ok....go to dissolve Diet,16,Fri,2012,by all means,

if they had waited too much longer , Hashimoto, Ishihara and Ozawa would have too much time to gather their cronies and set up a 3rd major , nationalistic party to challenge for overall power.

Exactly. Hence the timing. Noda's doing what's right for the nation's future.

Anyone else notice how Abe's bowing like a lady in the photo? Not you'd expect from a macho, right-wing, Ubermensch.

Well, it's about time!,,

This is a great as it may draw away some of the competitors from the Tokyo gubernatorial election and Kenji Utsunomiya, the guy running on a post-nuclear platform, might stand a chance.

I imagine Abe will get another shot at the top job. Hope the diarrhoea that forced him out last time has settled down. That aint even a joke, he had big time bowel issues.

Been what? 18 months? About time for a new leader in Japan. Start spinning the revolving door... the is so effing stupid.

Rhino - the LDP did exactly what the DPJ is doing: what it is told by the Ministry of Finance. A resumption of power by the LDP in the next election will be a vote for continuity with Noda's policies.

Hatoyama was a flake, but he also represented a brief flicker of hope for voters actually being able to decide what policies governments govern with.

Kan was ousted not because of the nuclear village but because he was a liar, who put factional politics and the advice of his handlers in the Ministry of Finance that he oversaw prior to being PM - ahead of the promises to the Japanese public that he and his party were voted in on. He split the DPJ and lost its support - and would have barely survived two weeks after 3.11 had that disaster not extended his life.

Noda is the most effective PM since Koizumi. He is also the most LDP leaning PM since Koizumi. Effective at getting his policies through - he destroyed the DPJ because "his" policies are those of the LDP and not the DPJ, and it was because the LDP supported him that he got the tax increase and other pro-bureaucracy initiatives through, against the beliefs and mandate of his party, and half of its members. The LDP and Komeito have sustained him, and though effective as a status quo PM, this last act, while the DPJ is polling nearly 10% approval, will almost guarantee its annihilation at the next election, and ensure a smooth transfer of power to Abe, who will run Japan with the same economic policies as Noda in the same way as an LDP faction transfers to another.

The people ARE smart. They show this in polls that show nearly 60% of voters in Japan don't want to vote for any person or any party. They will vote this next election by not voting, leaving it to the diehard rural voters to send the LDP back to power.

Oh shoot. I was just about to help my 83 year old MIL form the Sunnyside Up Japan! Party. Have to wait till next year now.

So is this an election upset guarantee? Cuz no-one else seems to share that viewpoint and just saying means naught.

Certainly no guarantee, but if the results of this election are indecisive, that will, conversely, be a victory for the public, considering that Abe and the LDP are resurgent.

Yubaru - you are buying the institutional line on Ozawa, that wants him out of power. Remember, the right wing parties wouldn't agree on the 3 party deal with the DPJ unless Ozawa was removed - it is those forces that also brought the false political charges against him via grand jury.

You're swallowing the propaganda on him - and THAT is dangerous, but expected.

Ozawa wants to get in the limelight to have another shot at the reforms of the DPJ manifesto that he basically authored, that the Japanese public voted the DPJ in to implement - namely wresting of power from unelected bureaucrats to elected lawmakers. He is power hungry, but for th eright reasons and that is why institutional media and power brokers - protected by Japan's right wing, are so afraid of him

@Hikozaemon, you read an awful lot into a couple of lines in a post. But since you took the time to reply let me say that your thinking is beyond dangerous as I see it.

Ozawa is a politician who only looks out for himself. Nothing more nothing less, he would turn communist if he thought they were the one's that could get him the job of being PM. He's LUCKY to not get convicted for money scandal his people were in, strange that typically Japanese bosses take the blame for their underlings mistakes, but in this case they all fell on their swords to keep Ozawa out of the guano.

He doesnt care about the Japanese people, he only cares about the power, like any politician.

They say people have a government they deserve. While Japan is not out for good think of this as autumn or sunset for the current period. Everything runs in cycles and nations are no exception. Just look at the fall leaves, they are so pretty! What a splash of color as the cycle ends and we wait for winter and then the spring.

Life is grand, now Japan needs is a PM with the brains and political savy of Koizumi and the nads of Ishihara.

As Japan is well into sunset and autumn things will get worse not better. As the population declines we will have to come up with solutions to our problems. People will just have to work as long as they are able. It may be 100 or more years before spring.

Do agree with you, Noda chan was stupid about the election. Send him home to his family and adult kindergarten.

Yubaru - you are buying the institutional line on Ozawa, that wants him out of power. Remember, the right wing parties wouldn't agree on the 3 party deal with the DPJ unless Ozawa was removed - it is those forces that also brought the false political charges against him via grand jury.

You're swallowing the propaganda on him - and THAT is dangerous, but expected.

Ozawa wants to get in the limelight to have another shot at the reforms of the DPJ manifesto that he basically authored, that the Japanese public voted the DPJ in to implement - namely wresting of power from unelected bureaucrats to elected lawmakers. He is power hungry, but for th eright reasons and that is why institutional media and power brokers - protected by Japan's right wing, are so afraid of him

Japan is to Japanese they are not looking for fresh new ideas or fresh new blood, and as for the the declining birth rate again Japan is to Japanese and to quick to give in and say that is just how it is or how it always been... hmm really always is a big word when you think about it. If people stop drinking and smoke they will be healthier if people stop working so much and stop interacting in a 2d world and start living in the real world they will be more incline to have kids, to say there is no space in Tokyo who cares the rural area is empty we don't have to live in the city live in the subs. but what do i know i am not Japanese we don't have the share the same DNA or Origin...