I thought I'd bump this thread because of Ozawa Ichiro's recent behavior. He's the leader of a new 51-seat (I think) block that just broke from the DPJ today. It's not an official party yet but it's going to be; not clear what it's going to be called or what its ostensible platform is going to be, since Ozawa has no apparent beliefs or standards.
The Noda Government still has a majority but it's much more tenuous than anybody thought it was likely to get, something like 241/479 in the House of Representatives for the DPJ itself and 254/479 or so counting the SDP, PNP, NPN, and NPD 'allies' (such as they are).
I'm kind of surprised the numbers of his new block are that low. I'd at least expect all 57 DJP members he whipped into voting against the government's big consumption tax increase to leave; at most I'd expect the up to 140 or so who supported his candidates for DJP leadership to join him.
