Ichiro Ozawa, now a stalwart of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, is once again looking for a way to oust the ruling Liberal Democratic Party from power.
Three decades ago, Ozawa led an opposition coalition that defeated the LDP for the first time; 14 years ago, he played a role in helping another opposition party become the ruling party. Now, the octogenarian political veteran is looking to cap his long career with another successful drive to defeat the LDP at the polls.
In pursuit of that goal, the 81-year-old Ozawa has increased his public profile over the past six months. In June, he was one of 57 Lower House CDP politicians — 70% of the total — who called for cooperation with other opposition parties at election time. He also became chairman of a new group of 15 CDP members of parliament, called Issei-kai, to work on policy areas where the CDP could cooperate with other parties.