There is an increasing likelihood that Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, lambasted at home and abroad as a symbol of political incompetence, will announce a decision sometime this month to step down to end the leadership crisis. This is hardly surprising, given Mori's abysmal performance since he was appointed to his job a year ago. The delay in his departure has exposed Japan's lack of ability to normalize politics.

The current crisis reminds us of the failed rebellion last year by Koichi Kato, a dissident leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Political pundits are likely to agree that when he challenged Mori for power, Kato sought to expedite political normalization. Other experts seem to believe that the present chaos resulted from Mori's lack of political wisdom. This view is simplistic and even dangerous.

In my opinion, Mori fell into trouble because he represented the extreme rightist, nationalistic ideology that caused Japan to launch a war of aggression in Asia and to suffer a miserable defeat at the hands of the United States in the Pacific War.