Former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa has said he arranged a meeting between Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and ruling Democratic Party of Japan power broker Ichiro Ozawa a few days before the party elected Noda its president on Aug. 29.
Hosokawa decided to set up the meeting at a hotel room after he was told by Noda and Ozawa that they hadn't talked to each other much, he said in an interview Saturday.
In the meeting, which lasted 30 to 40 minutes, Noda did not ask for Ozawa's support in the election, Hosokawa said. Ozawa, head of the party's largest faction, backed a different candidate.
Noda told Ozawa, "I look to you for guidance," while Ozawa said he was happy to have had a talk in a pleasant mood, Hosokawa said.
Hosokawa served as prime minister for about eight months from 1993 to 1994. The reformist leader headed the now defunct Japan New Party from which Noda ran for the Diet in 1993 and won his first seat in the House of Representatives.
The former prime minister supported Noda's call for tax increases to address the nation's deteriorating public finances but urged the new government to reduce the number of Diet seats and cut civil service jobs to gain public support for a heavier tax burden.
