‘Hopeless': Japan’s weak opposition no match for ruling LDP

TOKYO — Ahead of Sunday’s parliamentary elections, nearly a dozen opposition parties are trying to topple the Liberal Democratic Party, which has ruled, almost without interruption, since the end of World War II. “Japanese politics need an opposition like us.” The LDP has been somewhat checked on hawkish issues by its junior coalition partner, Komeito, which is reluctant to support an amendment to the war-renouncing Constitution and the possession of enemy-strike capabilities that critics say could breach the country’s pacifist charter. “The main problem is what they do is too little, too late and too old.” As long as LDP rule continues, experts say that gender equality and diversity issues, such as legalizing same sex marriage and allowing married couples to keep two surnames, will continue to stall because of the party’s small but vocal ultra-rightwing members. While many voters take LDP leadership for granted, some younger people say they feel their interests are underrepresented because of government policies largely designed for conservative senior citizens, known as “silver democracy.” Seiji Kuribayashi, a freelance photographer, said that he was still comparing policies about prices, taxes and other issues related to his everyday life among candidates from the LDP, Innovation and Reiwa.