BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — This is a tale of two high-profile political candidates who don't simply happen to be women. They are political women up for very big jobs. This is also a story of two very different political cultures.
Let's start with Japan, a traditional society with its own very special ways and means. There, a former defense and environmental minister has thrown her hat, dramatically, into the fierce competition to become the next head of the Liberal Democratic Party, the largest in Japan, and thus the next probable prime minister.
That job is now open. The past LDP president, who was also the reigning prime minister, resigned more than a week ago. We'll know very soon if Yuriko Koike will be successful. Unlike the American nominating process, Japan's does not seem as drawn out as, say, Mao's Long March.