April 4 , 2008; Volume 04, Number 12

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Thanks for tuning in again. This week from the Mobile Studio, parked in Modoc, South Carolina. Right on the shore of Lake Thurmond. An inspiring site.

This week we begin with discussion of the surprising increase during the past few days of mainstream Japanese media articles on political party reconfiguration. And speculate on what may have inspired this blossoming of interest in the topic. Although I have no solid evidence, I suspect it to be the continued fall in Prime Minister Fukuda's public approval ratings. Across the board.

We then briefly discuss the problems involved in selecting a replacement for Fukuda. Now that the DPJ's strategy of demanding a general election seems to have fizzled.

And then briefly compare current developments with the early 1990s "political reform" mania that brought Japan Nihon Shinto, and the current period of political party system uncertainty.