Until the first half of last week, Japan¡¯s political pundits were predicting the future of a new coalition government based on the assumption that Sanae Takaichi, the new Liberal Democratic Party president, would become the next prime minister.
But last Friday¡¯s ¡°midlife divorce¡± drama between the LDP and Komeito leaders drastically changed the situation once again. Currently, the Japanese media is inundated with shallow analyses, focused solely on ¡°who will become the next prime minister¡± ¡ª and missing the bigger picture.
My concern right now, however, isn¡¯t about selecting the next prime minister or the success or failure of a new coalition. My focus is entirely on whether Japan¡¯s parliament will finally begin to ¡°Knessetize¡± (referring to Israel¡¯s parliament, and by extension, unstable coalition politics dominated by multiple small parties). If it does, how long will this last and will Japan¡¯s domestic political stability ultimately be restored? In this context, immediately after the Upper House election in late July, I wrote the following in these pages:
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