While I was away from Japan on a recent overseas trip, the nation was plunged into political confusion following Liberal Party leader Ichiro Ozawa's threat to leave the ruling three-party coalition. Ozawa suggested that his party could quit the alliance -- which also includes the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito -- over policy differences.
I was surprised at Japanese news reports overseas that Ozawa, contrary to his earlier threat to quit the alliance, proposed an LDP-LP merger to Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and other LDP officials. It is sometimes easier to understand Japanese politics if one is overseas rather than in Japan, because one gets Japanese news in a simplified form.
Ozawa's position was: