I don’t think there are any ‘new’ left-wing parties. The SDPJ/SPJ/SDP has existed in a few forms since 1945 (with a realignment in 1996), The Japanese Communist Party since 1922, and the DPJ since 1998 (which was basically a merger of the old Democratic Party of Japan and three smaller parties).

even though they didn’t quite seem to get along with each other

You hit the nail on the head there. That’s part of the reason why they didn’t last long in power.

The current situation is far more dangerous to the LDP than what happened in the mid-90s, for many reasons. Basically, the DPJ has formed itself by absorbing and merging with smaller opposition parties. This is positioning it as a long-term viable second party on the political scene. Of course, the party itself is fractured, and might be its own worst enemy.

The public has had another decade to grow tired of the LDP as it becomes increasingly obvious that they are, for the most part, incompetent, corrupt and self-serving. There has not been much of a better alternative, but there might not need to be unless the LDP can start scoring some points.

That seems strange. If you look at the numbers, it seems like the mid 90s situation was much worse for the LDP. I mean, they lost control of the lower house and even the prime minister was from other parties (even though they didn’t quite seem to get along with each other).

Since you guys mentioned it, I’ve been tuning into the LDP youtube channel. Lately, I’ve discovered the colorful channels for the other parties, and they’re really helpful to me in finding out how they’re different.

LDP:
http://www.youtube.com/user/LDPchannel
It was funny for a while, but it seems to have degraded to a guy no one cares about talking about tours of the diet building.

DPJ:
I don’t think the entire party has a channel, but I did find this:
http://www.youtube.com/user/sho0624
Which seems to be the official channel of someone in the party. It’s cartoons criticizing the LDP. Absolutely hilarious. Go Shumin-kun!

JCP:
http://www.youtube.com/user/jcpmovie
I don’t know why this is the JCP “movie”. It seems to be pretty well generic as well as official. Booooring.

SDP:
http://www.youtube.com/user/shaminparty
These people sound like a cult. But yet I feel strangely compelled to go to one of their meetings.

I find it interesting that so many new left wing parties have appeared, but it seems like the right wing is mostly absorbed in the LDP. That might be a simplistic way of looking at it. Anyway, you guys are the experts

I think you should consider doing like an overview post of Japan politics.

Republicans were obsessed with a power struggle, causing political confusion as a result.

That is literally childish. Who was confused? The writer? Obviously.

Clinton, who was said to have no chance of winning a second term, was reelected with a resounding victory over Republican candidate Bob Dole.

Wow. Not that he was as sure as Reagan, but - wow…That is incredibly stupid.

Is the point of taking a post as a correspondent in a foreign country so that one can come home and lie about it later?

Once again, I can’t see the point in having this stuff translated unless the Yomiuri is planning to start a global comedy network on the side.