Having witnessed the enactment of the government's security legislation despite the surge in popular opposition to the bills, citizens who took part in the movement feel an acute need to change the composition of the Diet.
In response to this public will, Japanese Communist Party Chairman Kazuo Shii took the lead and advocated uniting opposition parties to create what he called a people's coalition government. Talks are now under way among opposition parties on possible cooperation.
Among industrialized democracies, Japan has a relatively large number of political parties that hold seats in the national legislature. Currently, the Liberal Democratic Party dwarfs all other parties like Gulliver among the Lilliputians, but in some European countries, with Switzerland as a typical example, small parties coexist, each representing a group with a specific ethnic, linguistic or religious identity.