With its rate of approval dwindling fast, the administration of Prime Minister Naoto Kan has fallen into a "lame-duck" status, and the resultant "political vacuum" is likely to linger on for some time to come, as there is no clear prospect as to what kind of political landscape will emerge in the event of his stepping down.
North Korea's shelling of the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong on Nov. 23 appeared for a moment to give the Kan government breathing room because this was no time for his Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and the opposition forces to engage in bickering at a time when the nation faced a serious national crisis.
Such a truce did not last long, as the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and other opposition parties on the evening of Nov. 26 passed a censure resolution against two Cabinet ministers — Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku and infrastructure and transport Minister Sumio Mabuchi — in the Upper House, where the opposition has a majority.