The Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) is showing signs of changing its unflinching support for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, as it seeks closer ties with the No. 1 opposition Democratic Party of Japan.
This does not mean the federation is giving up on the LDP, but such a shift could impact the Japanese political landscape, because Nippon Keidanren is the most powerful business lobby. Its chairman is often referred to as "the prime minister of the business world."
A reception held May 28 following the annual general meeting of Nippon Keidanren was not as colorful as usual, mainly because Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda broke from the long tradition of paying tribute to the biggest sponsor of his party. Instead, he went to the fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development, and did not even bother to send Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura to the federation meeting as his proxy. This gave rise to suspicion among business leaders that the LDP has turned its back on them.