Ishiba dissolves lower house ahead of Oct 27 election

"" But Japan's opposition has remained too fractured to push the governing party out of power. ""

There is NO SUCH thing as Opposition Party In Japan, NO ONE dares the LDP and what ever opposition there is it's just a show for the streets.

Modern Japanese theater with no integrity or truth.

One thing I've learnt in my three decades plus in Japan is that Japan loves an election!

There is NO SUCH thing as Opposition Party In Japan, NO ONE dares the LDP and what ever opposition there is it's just a show for the streets.

Exactly! There is no opposition in Japan as in real democracies. Opposition parties are just used for decoration for Japan to pretend that the country is not an oligarchy and a caste. Even if somehow the SDP or another party makes it to power, it will be put out of business very quickly by the bureaucratic machine controlled by the LDP with the help of the major media to help put back the suddenly misplaced Japanese population to the right track. As it happened before. Well just two times in almost 80 years!!!

Ishiba is seeking to secure his governing party’s majority while he is still fresh and before the congratulatory mood fades

And before voters get a chance to find out that he's a rubbish PM (but I think they already know that).

I need to buy some earplugs.

Ishiba and his cabinet will stay in office until they win reelection and are reappointed.

*This in a nutshell summarises the state of politics in Japan today - the electorate can carry on voting as much as they like, but in reality nothing much is going to change at all.

WoodyLeeToday 05:25 pm JST

There is NO SUCH thing as Opposition Party In Japan

Your comment is provably false. There are several opposition parties, and the one with the most seats is seen as the "main" opposition party.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Japan

You can say that opposition parties in Japan are fragmented, unappealing, disorganized, etc., but you cannot say they don't exist.

daito_hakToday 05:58 pm JST

Exactly! There is no opposition in Japan as in real democracies.

See above.

Same old Jiminto playbook. When enough scandals pile up and tank their approval ratings they replace the head of the party and call a snap election to prevent opposition parties from organising.

It's more theater than it is democracy.

Who needs debate when you have loud sound trucks with a politician and a local beauty waving at you?

The move has been criticized as prioritizing an election rather than policies and for allowing little debate.

In the end, everything will be as the US says. And ordinary Japanese citizens know this well. And many want independence from the United States. The Japanese themselves talk about this.

Old Mens Club/

Waste of money

Ishiba is increasingly seen as backpedaling on a number of proposals he previously advocated so he won’t create controversy ahead of the election.

At a press conference, he responded to the similar question by saying, "Our party is not an authoritarian dictatorship." He stated, "Just because I became the party president, it doesn't mean that everything I said during the party leadership election can be implemented. That is not how a democratic party operates. We must steadily engage in discussions within the party and reach a consensus." He expressed his intention to incorporate policies by steadily gaining understanding within the party.

"Our party is not an authoritarian dictatorship." He stated, "Just because I became the party president, it doesn't mean that everything I said during the party leadership election can be implemented. That is not how a democratic party operates. We must steadily engage in discussions within the party and reach a consensus."

If that's how they decide everything I'm not sure what they bother having a leader for.