LDP favored to win lower house election

It would be nice if Japan had term limits - - and we won't be stuck with another 50 years of LDP inefficiency. . . . . . .OR a new PM every season!

This is foreboding.

semperfi - Japan does have term limits - they're called elections! The Japanese people are about to limit the DPJ's term.

Serrano : Japan does have term limits - they're called elections! . . .LOL

It's like watching a horror movie, you know that something horrible is about to happen but you can't stop watching.

Term minimums are what's needed most - especially to curb wasted time from bickering about 'the PM should resign', which will probably start by spring.

So it's either right wing, far right wing or extreme right wing... some choice. No wonder this country is so stagnant.

This election makes me dream Japan had a romney of its own, thats how bad this is.................what a mess.

Went out and voted I will vote for a pig before LDP or DPJ. I voted for a party that will free Japan from American occupation.

YuriOtani - Went out and voted I will vote for a pig before LDP or DPJ. I voted for a party that will free Japan from American occupation.

Well that just shows how clever you are. You just voted for Abe and his cronies anyway. And, it is because of cronies like this that the US needs to stay in Japan.

It will be a tragedy to see the cronies put back into to power, but it also seems somewhat fitting because they were the ones that created this mess in the first place. However, that doesn't mean they are gonna fix it.

As a foreigner in Japan it maddens me to think i have to pay higher taxes and pay into a failed pension system to 'shoulder the burden' of these old twits running the country's economy into the ground with lies and corruption.

@Yuri Best of luck with that. I think most of your fellow Japanese have more pressing concerns - trivialities such as the economy and the like.

As a foreigner I can't vote but I made sure that my wife voted for a party that will get rid of nuclear power ASAP-the biggest threat to Japan bar none....

@kurisu

If I tried to "make sure" my wife voted the way I wanted, I'd get a swift kick in a particularly sensitive area....

Not one woman I have spoken to has voted for either Noda or Abe. They all voted for the woman from Shiga.

Time will tell.....

Like the DPJ will do things better? Also if you do not like paying Japanese taxes leave. Anyhow it is a done thing now. Anyhow have NEVER voted LDP.

I accompanied my wife to the polls here in Tokyo this afternoon ... and was surprised by what I saw. A large turnout! What does this mean? For one thing, it means somebody's unhappy with the way things are going. As for how they voted ... well, we'll see in a few more hours.

One Japanese friend said she went this morning but gave up voting at that time because the line was surprisingly long. She had to return to her shop to take care of business, and returned later. I chatted with her when she returned this afternoon.

I have been going to this particular voting station for quite a few years now and have never seen it so busy.

If there was also a large turnout throughout the nation ... could it be that we're in for some surprises ... such as all those polls showing a landslide victory for the LDP were actually off the mark?

Gotta watch the vote counting results on TV later tonight ...

I went to the local elementary with my wife this afternoon, around 2.,30 the place was jampacked. Only took 5 mins to work our way through the system, but my first time witnessing a J-election, I was pleasantly surprised at the level of turnout.

but my first time witnessing a J-election, I was pleasantly surprised at the level of turnout.

you mean low or high turnout? It's below 35% at 16:00 hrs.

Low voter turnout rate... do people in Japan care about politics?

I wasn't aware of the turnout %age, but the school I was at was packed at 2.30. I've never been to a J-election before.

When the LDP is back, get ready for things to get real bad. Perhaps a depression even.

So it's back to the old, the well-known? Japan's current attitude can be summed up in "More Of The Same."

Some opinion polls even show the conservative LDP, with its coalition partner, achieving the two-thirds majority

Conservative LDP? Is that the conservative Liberal Democrat Party? Conservative Liberals? Thats a broad base - should be popular!

As a foreigner I can't vote but I made sure that my wife voted for a party that will get rid of nuclear power ASAP-the biggest threat to Japan bar none....

Can't agree with you there, she should make her own mind up as it is her vote, not yours? Anyway, debt will kill Japan long before any radiation will, so each party that is against nuclear, against consumption tax hike, and against TPP has the gun in their hand, waiting to shoot Japan.

As long as it's not Ishihara and Hashimoto I'm happy about that.

The LDP is set to win this time round, people want to see changes economically, mainly. And some would want tougher government on China and Korea, not necessary a bad thing, but it's gonna be tricky threading on thin ice.

Watching TV Asahi now. Big victory for Abe and Hashimoto.

Japan, I love you but you voted to continue your course to insignificance and troubles.

Say goodbye to Fukushima.

Looking at the results, 民主党 became the ミンチ党...

As predicted, the LDP is winning big. While watching the results come in via TV I am chuckling at what I'm seeing. Bums, cheats, liars and idiots are being returned to power left and right. And even if someone loses, they are back in because their party won in the proportional represention section, thus pulling the loser into the winner's slot.

So ... we will once again be seeing the same people who led Japan down the road to destruction in the final 10 years of LDP rule. If this is what the voters of Japan want ... then let it be. If they are being deceived by the LDP propaganda machine, then it is their fault.

LDP supporters have been telling me not to worry as their party will save the day. Sure hope so ...

Let's see, now that the election is over and we now know where the country is headed in the months & years ahead, we just have to watch where our hard-earned money is going. The LDP guys squandered it once before ... and now?? Who knows ... ??

Anyone see the taff between Ikegami and Ishihara just then on TV? Ikegami said Ishihara was no doubt labeled a "暴走老人" because he threw Papua New Guinea and the Philippines in with North Korea in his policies, and Ishihara threw a fit at Ikegami! Love it!

lucabrasiDec. 16, 2012 - 11:11PM JST What makes you think everybody who's not happy with the election result was born outside Japan?

Easy answer, read the posts here and other topics on JT. People are crying like their lives will end tomorrow and Ishihara and the LDP will start round-ups of foreigners soon.

Folks could not be any more wrong unless they placed Vegas bets on the DPJ winning.

Japan was going in the wrong direction and had been investing it's money on the wrong horses. As with every nation during the present worldwide financial crises it needs to build within and not out.

Japan needs to take care of itself, it's borders and it's people. It needs to stop being the stepping stone for wouldbe superpowers and remember that it is more than just a bank for the PRC.

Stop the knee bending, get off the floor and start doing what it has always done best, being an innovative nation.

Time to close factories in the PRC, move them either home or to nations that have the same vision as Japan's.