'Princess Corps' Shakes Up Japanese Politics

Loses grip on upper house, retains more powerful lower house

(AP) - Japanese media are projecting that the ruling Democrats lost seats in a parliamentary election, dealing a setback to the progressive party's 10-month old government. Public broadcaster NHK predicted that the Democratic Party of Japan won less than 50 contested seats in today's upper house election, down from 54 before the polls. Other TV stations put the DPJ at 47 to 48 seats. More»

Shift in power marks end of 50 years of conservative rule

(NEWSER) - Japan's parliament formally voted in Yukio Hatoyama as the country's new prime minister today, ending an almost half-century of rule by the Liberal Democratic Party, CNN reports. The LDP's Taro Aso and his cabinet resigned en masse earlier in the day. Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan won a landslide election victory last month with an Obama-style message of change. The party plans a "trickle-up" strategy to revive the country's recession-ravaged economy by raising household incomes. More»

Yukio Hatoyama gets to work after historic opposition victory

(NEWSER) - Japan's incoming prime minister hailed a democratic "revolution" as more complete results confirmed a sweeping victory for the center-left Democratic Party. Yukio Hatoyama will lead a bloc of more than 300 parliamentary members, more than three times its previous representation, after what the Times of London calls the most decisive election result in Japanese history. Hatoyama, who should become prime minister in about two weeks, has promised less bureaucracy, greater welfare spending, and a more independent relationship with the US. More»

(NEWSER) - Japanese PM Taro Aso dissolved parliament today to begin a watershed election that could break his party's 50-year grip on power, Reuters reports. In a nationwide TV address, Aso apologized for his shortcomings as a leader and for internal squabbling that cost his conservative party at recent local elections. Opposition leader Yukio Hatoyama, far ahead in the polls to become the next PM, said today that "This is a major, revolutionary election. We should face it with a sense of historic mission." More»

PM moves quickly to quell gaffe fallout

(NEWSER) - Japan still isn't laughing about the devastating nuclear meltdown at Fukushima Dai-ichi, but its newest ex-minister of the nuclear industry apparently thinks it's quite amusing. After returning from a trip to Fukushima on Thursday, Yoshio Hachiro reportedly rubbed against a journalist, joking, "I'll give you radiation." Hachiro resigned over the flap yesterday, just eight days after the government took office, reports the Australian Broadcasting Corporation . More»