The collapse of the Liberal Democratic Party empire has cast a dark shadow over party headquarters in Tokyo's Nagata-cho, the political heartland. Stunned by its devastating defeat in the Aug. 30 Lower House election, the LDP lies in pieces.
But there is no time for mourning. It has one goal, and that is to build its numbers back up so it can retake control of the government from the Democratic Party of Japan, which clobbered the LDP in the poll. To regroup, the LDP must find a strong leader and a new identity.
"We now must be ready to fight as an opposition force," Prime Minister Taro Aso told fellow LDP lawmakers at a recent party gathering. "We must be reborn and reseize government power."