The outcome of the July 11 Upper House election symbolized voters' distrust of national politics in Japan. The ruling Democratic Party of Japan led by Prime Minister Naoto Kan took only 44 of the 121 contested seats against its pre-election share of 54 seats due for contention and the DPJ-led coalition lost a majority in the 242-seat chamber by a large margin.
The resultant divided Diet situation with the opposition parties in control of the Upper House and the DPJ dominating the House of Representatives will undoubtedly make it more difficult for the Kan administration to make important policy decisions in the months to come.
The DPJ ousted the Liberal Democratic Party from power by a crushing victory in the Lower House election of last August and launched a DPJ-led coalition government with Yukio Hatoyama as prime minister the next month. The Hatoyama Cabinet initially enjoyed an approval rate of more than 70 percent.