Word: ldp
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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...
RESIGNED. TAKAO KOYAMA, 57, and MASAKUNI MURAKAMI, 68, members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (ldp) in the Japanese parliament's Upper House, from the ldp and as head of the ldp group in the House, respectively; in Tokyo. Koyama quit after being arrested on suspicion of taking $170,000 in bribes from an insurance foundation in return for comments he made in favor of the group's activities. Murakami stepped down to take responsibility for this latest in a series of scandals to plague Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's government...
...knew to whom he was talking, they say, and the session was on the record. More likely, the episode revealed that Kato is a creature of the very habits - decision-making behind closed doors - that he claims to want to change. He can take comfort from one thing. The LDP's most powerful deal-maker, Hiromu Nonaka, said the result doesn't mean Mori has the support of his party. In the end, Kato probably laid the groundwork for somebody else to push Mori aside...