Former Tokyo Gov. Yukio Aoshima still believes in the power of independent voters.
Running as an independent in the July 11 House of Councilors election from the Tokyo electoral district, Aoshima has launched a "street-preaching" campaign, standing on a beer-bottle case and criticizing the government over its pension reform scheme and participation in a U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq.
"If the Upper House had functioned properly, all the problems -- including pension reform -- would have been thoroughly deliberated and (government-sponsored bills) possibly voted down," Aoshima told The Japan Times, lamenting the upper chamber's loss, as its members act in a partisan manner, of its original role as a check for the more powerful House of Representatives