Word: ldp
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...even if Mori is somehow bundled off stage, there is still a problem with the last act. Who would succeed him? The LDP sorely lacks a powerful shogun like the late Noburu Takeshita who not only served as Prime Minister but was a master at misshitsu seiji, the behind-the-screen politics of grooming new leaders and smoothing over intra-party squabbles...
These days Takeshita's old office? complete with its watercolor of Izumo shrine?is occupied by Mikio Aoki, an LDP heavyweight who hails from the same prefecture as Takeshita. But, having little clout and less charisma, Aoki is no Takeshita. He's competing for influence with Hiromu Nonaka?another Gang of Five member and Prime Minister-wannabe, who belongs to the largest party faction (led by former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto...
Without a clear kingmaker, the offstage plots, subplots and counterplots are so intricate that no one can be sure who's on top. Or even that some new actor isn't ready to steal the spotlight. "Anybody could be chosen," concludes LDP Diet member Katsuei Hirasawa. For example, Junichiro Koizumi, head of the Mori faction and radical reformer, could jump in once his boss fizzles out. Or Chikage Ogi, a former actress who is now head of the New Conservative Party, could emerge as a candidate...
...attention to the chatter in the alleys off Showa road in Ginza, where the pols pay $650 a head for dinner (drinks are extra) at places like Kiccho, Mori's favorite, you'll discover just how much like Kabuki Japanese politics is these days. Word is that no senior LDP leader?not Aoki, not Nonaka, not Koizumi?wants to become Prime Minister just now. Forget about the jostling that appears to be going on. Sure, the party wants Mori out because he is such an embarrassment. But there is an election for the Upper House of the Diet scheduled...
...play is winding down for Mori and the LDP big shots. They need to shove an essential budget bill through the lower house of the Diet by March 2. After that, it will be time for Mori to exit the stage. By March 13, when the LDP holds a general meeting, Mori will?somehow, some way?be deposed. And a successor will be selected. But as usual the work will have been done in private, at expensive restaurants?behind those decorative screens. Says Kenji Gato, a senior political reporter in Tokyo: "When the curtain is raised on the LDP meeting...