Word: diets
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...parliamentary elections changed the nation's political landscape?perhaps for good. Though the LDP kept control of the government, voters punished it for its failure to reform the economy by handing it a smaller mandate and by giving the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) large gains in the Diet. Suddenly, pundits were holding forth about two-party democracy breaking out in Japan. Actually, they should have been talking about a three-party system...
...come to rely on the New Komeito for far more than the buffer it contributes to the LDP's majority in the Diet. Because of its religious ties, which help create an obedient rank and file, the New Komeito has one of the last great vote-gathering machines in Japan. Political analysts estimate that the New Komeito delivers between 20,000 and 30,000 votes in every major constituency (and many elections have been decided by only a few thousand ballots). Some 80% of LDP candidates who received New Komeito endorsement this time around were elected. In contrast...
...issues on which the parties disagree the most?pension reform and national security?could come to a head soon. The New Komeito made the preservation of a generous pension system its top campaign issue, and last week the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry (headed by New Komeito Diet member Chikara Sakaguchi) submitted a plan calling for an increase in the government's share of pension financing, with the added expenses to be funded by canceling a series of income tax cuts. Many prominent LDP members claim that this scheme will put Japan's fragile economic recovery at risk. Japan...
...This is not news to Katsuei Hirasawa, an outspoken LDP Diet member from western Tokyo's 17th ward. He says many LDP members are as uncomfortable as he is about being associated with a party that has such explicit religious ties, but few speak out. "They keep their silence because they need the New Komeito," he says. The New Komeito, for its part, is in a position to speak loudly?and it will certainly be heard...
...attended just one meeting—in Winthrop’s dining hall. “I never really understood why we went to Winthrop house to eat,” Yellin says. However, the club did provide her with the opportunity to reincorporate wrap consumption into her balanced diet. “I have some experience with wraps since I worked in a wrap restaurant two summers ago,” she says. “It was nice to get back into that scene...