The once dominant Liberal Democratic Party is said to be trying to re-establish its identity as a genuine conservative force, but the LDP leadership appears to be doing nothing more than working desperately to maintain the status quo.
On the very day that Ichiro Ozawa, the all powerful secretary general of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, was questioned by Tokyo district prosecutors in connection with the suspected falsification of political fund reports, LDP President Sadakazu Tanigaki pledged that he would personally take the lead in investigating scandals involving the DPJ and the government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.
Speaking to LDP local chapter heads, Tanigaki said public opinion has now turned so much against the DPJ that Ozawa could no longer resist prosecutorial efforts to question him. Yet, his words sounded hollow to some; one LDP leader lamented that the series of blunders committed by the DPJ had not shunted more support over to the LDP.