Wrapping up the election coverage for the time being, the Japan Times has a rundown of some interesting statistics of elected members of the Diet:

* 158 first time lawmakers were elected, including 143 from the DPJ (almost half of their total number).

* The average age of elected members is 52 years, with the DPJ averaging [...]

Well, the election is over, and as shown in the post below, the results were a massive win to the opposition DPJ. Just how big that win was gives rise to the title of this post…

With the result of the election in no doubt minutes after the polls closed (actually they haven’t been in [...]

Heading in to the election tonight, here is a brief summary of the positions of the various parties in the lower house prior to the election:

House of Representatives:

LDP          296 seats

DPJ          113 seats

NKP          31 seats

JCP            9 seats

SDP            7 seats

PNP            4 seats

NPN            1 seat

NPD            1 seat

After the 2007 Upper House election, the DPJ hold 109 of the [...]

A few days ago, James at Japan Probe presented us with ‘The worst political commercial ever?‘… This is the 15 second ad that he posted:

I also saw this one of Prime Minister Aso, and I’m trying to figure out whether its worse when he talks, or [...]

Today Japan go to the polls, and all expectations are that some time tonight we will see a new government elected. Could it be that Japan has finally developed a two-party system of government…?

I first came to Japan in 1992, and I was here for the short-lived attempt by Hosokawa to take over the government [...]