The opposition camp is rife with disunity and unable to exert any political say against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party-led government, now that the LDP controls about 60 percent of the Diet.
And the way things stand now, without any national election on the immediate horizon to galvanize the various, even diametrically opposed, opposition parties toward any kind of unity, let alone to find a common leader, the LDP-New Komeito coalition juggernaut will continue to call the shots.
The LDP's landslide victory in the House of Councilors election in July handed the ruling camp a comfortable majority in both chambers. It also erased the clout the opposition camp enjoyed when the Diet was divided. All that is left is the chance to grill Abe's Cabinet ministers when the Diet is in session.