Nothing can be more difficult than predicting the outcome of Saturday's Liberal Democratic Party presidential election.
All five candidates ran in last year's race, making them familiar faces for the public. However, the political landscape surrounding the LDP has changed dramatically since the Upper House election in July, with the party losing majorities in both houses of parliament for the first time ever. The upcoming LDP election will undoubtedly impact Japan's domestic and foreign policies for the next decade.
And yet, I can't recall in recent memory an LDP presidential election that has generated as little excitement as this one. Criticisms abound, with none of the candidates offering fresh ideas. Yet beneath these superficial currents, the fundamental undercurrent of Japan's domestic politics — which has undergone drastic changes over the past few years — remains essentially unchanged. This is the result of the decline of existing big-tent parties unable to address widening social disparities and the anger and frustration toward politics felt by people left behind.
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