Twenty years after the Liberal Democratic Party was kicked out of power for the first time since it was formed in 1955, the mighty LDP is back again, as if the clock had been turned back to that pivotal event in 1993.

The LDP's landslide victory in Sunday's Upper House election has given the opposition's leaders, Democratic Party of Japan head Banri Kaieda and Secretary-General Goshi Hosono, a tough choice: quit to clear the party's image or stick to their guns, leaving their fate in the hands of the party.

Kaieda, despite the DPJ's biggest loss in the chamber since its inception in 1996, has opted to stay on, while Hosono has hinted he will likely step down.