ABSTRACT
The previous chapter analysed the level of support for political parties in Japan from the 1980s onwards and the overwhelming impression from the public opinion polls was that the Japanese electorate were increasingly becoming dissatisfied with politics in the 1990s. Furthermore, the public’s support for the Japan Socialist Party (JSP) dropped alarmingly, both before the formation of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), and after this party was formed. In this chapter, we shall analyse the internal dynamics of the change from the JSP and the growth of the DPJ, in particular the last few years of the JSP, and we shall question what problems were happening within the party. We then shall look at the coalition governments of 1993-96 and assess the impact these had on the JSP. We discuss some of the attempted realignments and party formations within the non-communist left-ofcentre within the Japanese party system during the 1990s. Finally, we assess the creation of the new party, the DPJ, and reflect on the make-up of the party and its growth from a small party to being one in control of the House of Councillors as it stands in autumn 2008. See Appendix II for a diagram of Japanese Party change from 1990-2008. This chapter will thus explain the changes in the Japanese left before moving in the next three chapters to analyse some of the factors which contributed to the decline of the JSP and the emergence of the DPJ.
