Could Japanese politics finally be getting interesting or are things just getting out of hand?
With campaigning for Sunday's Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election under way and the Upper House election slated for July, parties are vying desperately for voters' attention with an array of television commercials ranging from the comically heroic to the patently outlandish.
In a Liberal Party ad running since June 2, leader Ichiro Ozawa is seen grappling a giant robot named "the Old System" before smashing through it, leaving behind a fireball for good measure, on his way to create a "New Japan." New Conservative Party leader Chikage Ogi, in an ad due to air soon, relives her days as an actress with the female stage troupe Takarazuka and dons doctor's robes in a "Hoshupital" (a play on words with the party's Japanese name, Hoshuto).