Legacy Turkey* Shoot Results

It is difficult to say nice things about Noda Yoshihiko in the aftermath of last week. He has, it seems, matched word with deed (a huge effort, for him) as regards the Democratic Party of Japan's 2009 manifesto pledge to abolish the practice of relatives inheriting the seats of retiring members -- a problem for the party, given the nearly unshakeable electoral lock held on the seat held by two of the retiring members, Watanabe Kozo and Hata Tsutomu**. The party has been struggling with these two retirees, telling them that there is no possibility of their sons inheriting the seat -- leading to some novel suggestions as to workarounds (Link).

Those workarounds will have to come into play, as the Nagano Prefectural Office of the DPJ has told sitting Minister of Infrastructure, Land, Transport and Tourism and Hata #1 Son Hata Yu'ichiro to forget about running for his father's House of Representatives seat.

It is hard to tell a sitting minister and son of a former prime minister to run for the seat, if he wants to run for it, as independent -- which he may do, despite having a nice seat in the House of Councillors, where he has rested his behind since 1999. (Link - J)

Credit to the party and its leader where credit is due.

Later- See Okumura Jun in comments on corrections to the above and the below.

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* I am indebted to Okumura Jun for this characterization.
** The retirement of Watanabe and Hata will leave only one of the Seven Magistrates (shichinin no nana bugyo) of the LDP alive and in politics: the eternally unloved Ozawa Ichiro.