The return of Abe and LDP was foremost a rejection of the DPJ, but also reflects an embrace of conservative views after recent years of strained relations with Japan's close neighbors. Chinese asserti

The Heritage Foundation? Oh yes, aren't they the ones who said Iraq would welcome US as liberators, the war would be over in a few weeks, and all that Iraq oil would flow to the US? So how did that go? Same for this piece of blather. Obviously he has never been to Japan or speaks Japanese. Doesn't have a clue.

nudged the public from its usual post-war complacency

Nonsense...only 59% of the voters even bothered voting. And the LDP got the victory simply because the DPJ was so totally inept. The complacency lives on and will get even stronger if the LDP starts printing money like they said they would. The complacency will only be truly shaken if folks actually start feeling the pain from having a 237% debt-to-GDP ratio. Until then, nothing matters.

I wouldn`t be surprised if the whole crisis was concocted at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, where Ishihara first announced his Senkaku Island buying scheme back in April.

I posted this a few months ago.

"Timeline - In April, Tokyo`s conservative right-wing governor Ishihara visits Washington and has a meeting at the neo-con infested "think-tank" Heritage Foundation. He then gives a speech at the foundation saying he wants to "protect Japanese territory" by buying the disputed Sendaku Islands.

Predictably, all hell breaks loose and the Japanese people are treated to round-the-clock TV images of rioting Chinese burning up and breaking anything Japanese owned in the country. Fear/tension levels rise.

The Chinese reaction towards Japan, unsurprisingly, fans nationalist sentiment in Japan, leading likely to general elections early next year which could well see the LDP (and Ishihara`s son - how convenient) return to power, most likely in a coalition with the right wing Restoration Party lead by extreme nationalist Mr.Hashimoto.

Caaa-ching! Mission accomplished.

The Heritage Foundation and neo-cons have a record of fanning flames in order create predictable outcomes that turn into money making/power grabbing opportunities. Remember this Bush era neo-con quote? "We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."

Nonsense...only 59% of the voters even bothered voting.

And only about 15%-24% of the voters voted for LDP.

Here`s another quote from Klingner - this one from November.

“Abe's conservative foreign policy views and the Japanese public's growing concern over China provide an excellent opportunity for Washington to achieve several policy objectives critical to the health of the US-Japan alliance,” Klingner said in a recent essay.

"It would be beneficial for the United States if Japan were to increase its defense spending, enable collective self-defense, adopt less restrictive rules of engagement for forces involving in overseas peacekeeping operations, and press forward on building a replacement US Marine Corps airbase on Okinawa.”

With the LDP back in power, and Japans subordinate role as a client state assured, the US can now carry-on with its "Pivot to Asia" plans - whatever that might be.

The so-called discussion if y'all are interested.

http://www.heritage.org/events/2012/12/korea-japan-elections

From my post on J-List:

Voters returned the reigns to the old guard for several reasons, including frustration over the rocky economy and unfulfilled promises in the DJP's "Manifesto" plus four years of ineptly handled foreign diplomacy, which caused important international relationships to suffer, including Japan's ties with the U.S. They are also betting that the incoming Prime Minister Abe (ah-bey, not like the American President) will be better able to resist encroachment from China on the Senkaku Islands, a dispute which caused terrible anti-Japan riots this year. There's hope that the business situation will improve for Japanese companies, too. While the DPJ had been positively hostile to business, refusing to listen to advice from the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) or aid important companies like Panasonic, Sony and Sharp, the election of the pro-business LDP has already sent the stock market here soaring.

Not that the LDP is perfect or good by any means, but AT LEAST let's realize that business and exports and the "brand" of Japan's strong companies is really important, perhaps more important than a stupid "Manifesto" filled with promises that can't possibly be kept.

And only about 15%-24% of the voters voted for LDP.

Is that the percent of eligible voters, the percent of votes or the percent of actual voters?

The total percent of all eligible voters.