It took 54 years for the nation's politics to produce a viable opposition party, and 39 months for it to self-destruct after winning power, splintering prospects for an enduring policy-driven two-party system.
The Democratic Party of Japan lost three-fourths of its seats in the Lower House on Sunday, three years after sweeping the Liberal Democratic Party from a half-century of almost unbroken rule. An LDP-led coalition won a two-thirds majority in the 480-seat chamber.
While the DPJ's leaders came under fire for their response to the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear calamity, the biggest collapse in public support preceded the crisis. Undermined by a faction boss who later split and took about 50 seats with him, the DPJ flubbed its historic chance at the beginning by pledging to move a U.S. military base off Okinawa, then reneging on it.