The second Ozawa's dream is now: Minshinto 民進党 - The Democratic Party

L: Democratic Party leader Katsuya Okada. 

C: Acting party leader Kenji Eda

R: Secretary General Yukio Edano 

The second Ozawa's dream is now: Minshinto, for a Japan's renewed opposition? Really? Minshinto (民進党 The Democratic Party), formed from the merger between the Democratic Party of Japan and the Japan Innovation Party, officially inaugurated at party convention on March 27, 2016. Not exactly a new party, remember the early 90's... Morihiro Hosokawa 細川 護煕 and Masayoshi Takemura 武村 正義 New Harbinger Party also called New Party Sakigake 新党さきがけ - Shinto Sakigake) centrist party, reformist and moderate Green led by Takemura and among them a person called Naoto Kan who became a diva after revealing the HIV tainted blood scandal in his ministry of Health while in the Hashimoto cabinet.

Masayoshi Takemura 

Hosokawa and Masayoshi Takemura win the July 18, 1993 general election. (1993 RFI Radio France assigned me to Japan, my 1st Foreign Correspondent assignment here after Seoul and Beijing) I saw how Sakigake joined the 8 party coalition led by Morihiro Hosokawa then elected prime minister. It was the first government without the LDP since 1955 ! Japanese rubbed their eyes!! Then Japan witnessed the big inner fight. The coalition government collapsed after 10 months when Socialist Party and New Party Sakigake left the government. I saw Takamura really mad at Hosokawa. Takemura was finance minister in the coalition cabinet led by Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama in July 1994. Some say that Hosokawa government fell apart over the introduction of consumption tax, with Ministry of Finance officials conspiring with Hosokawa to keep coalitions partners in the dark over their plans. Read Brown, J. Robert (1999) in "The Ministry of Finance: Bureaucratic Practices and the Transformation of the Japanese Economy." Greenwood Press. https://goo.gl/srM4HP

The Socialists  decided to form a Grand coalition government with LDP and Sakigake in 1994, returning the LDP to power. That was the mariage of rain and fire. New Party Sakigake working with government of socialists Murayama Tomiichi, for a never imagined sulphurous government coalition of LDP and Japan Socialist Party! In 1998 Sakigake comes back to a conservative stance and in 2001 drops the "New" before it lost all seats at the Diet and changes name to... Green Assembly (みどりの会議 Midori no kaigi)

Interesting that the most resilient conservatives turned to centrist then green before to realign elsewhere... Great book to read by my honorable Facebook friend Gerry Curtis (2013). "The Logic of Japanese Politics: Leaders, Institutions, and the Limits of Change" Columbia University Press
https://goo.gl/eLOQ8H

Kenji Eda has a future if he can become a more smiling and more poisonous politician... Okayama prefecture, Todai, Harvard, ex LDP, then independent, enemy of ex Yoshimi Watanabe (good point) and ended also Japan Innovation Party, the party started by Toru Hashimoto (good point bis repetita) and if he ends his goal to "change Japan by abolishing bureaucracy-led politics, fighting vested interests and breaking the centralisation of power..." http://www.eda-k.net

Kenji Eda could also help Japanese and the world elsewhere to exactly see a clear stand of political principles by ending changing parties, groups, alliances, formation, policies (#Hollandisation of politics) etc. A clear stand, exactly what Koizumi and Abe did when deciding once for ever their policy making.

Jiang Zemin and Masayoshi Takemura 10 July 1996