Common censure

摘要

Less than six months after plunging pop-ularity finished off the Democratic Party of Japan's (dpj) first-ever prime minister, the opposition parties are again scenting blood. Naoto Kan, who has been prime minister since June, is vulnerable on many fronts. But his opponents' bluster is not winning them any new followers. On November 26 and 27th, Mr Kan's cabinet received a taste of the medicine his party used to spoon out when it was in opposition. Two members of the dpj, including Mr Kan's outspoken chief of staff, were censured in the upper house of parliament for a variety of mishaps, just days after the justice minister was forced to resign for making a joke about his duties.