After three months in power, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has to wade through resistance not only from the opposition forces but also from within his own Democratic Party of Japan. Now that the Diet has passed the third supplementary budget for fiscal 2011 and related bills for reconstruction from the March 11 disasters in Tohoku, the strategy of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito is to inflict as much damage as possible on the Noda administration to force him to dissolve the Lower House for a snap election.

Mr. Noda's next main goal is to raise the consumption tax rate to eventually 10 percent from the current 5 percent to cover social welfare costs. But there is persistent resistance to his plan even among some DPJ lawmakers, including former DPJ leader Ichiro Ozawa and those close to him. Mr. Ozawa threatened by saying that if the government moves to raise the consumption tax, the DPJ will be divided into two. Such a tax raise in the midst of economic stagnation will further deteriorate the Japanese economy. Mr. Noda must give a convincing explanation.

The LDP called for raising the tax to 10 percent in the July 2010 Upper House election, a policy almost similar to the Noda administration's. Mr. Noda calls on the LDP and Komeito to first hold consultations with the DPJ over the consumption tax raise plan so that their opinions will be reflected in the government's tax raise policy.