ABSTRACT
In 2008, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) controls one of the houses of the Japanese National Diet for the first time since 1955. This results from the DPJ victory in the House of Councillors elections of July 2007, and even though the House of Councillors is less powerful than the House of Representatives, that victory is highly significant for the Opposition. During the ‘1955 system’ between 1955 and 1993, the Opposition never took effective control of either House of the Diet. In 1993-94, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was out of power for ten months, and then regained power in coalition with the Socialists. Very gradually, however, since 1994, the Opposition has managed to gain more electoral power, so that today the DPJ is the second strongest political party in Japan and is threatening the hegemony of the LDP.
