No doubt about the symbolic winner of Japan's lower-house election on November 9th. The beaming smile of Naoto Kan, head of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), filled television screens and newspapers across the country. Mr Kan has now given Japan what it lacked for so long: a mainstream party capable of challenging the dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) at the polls. The DPJ gained 40 seats in the election, winning 177 in all, especially in the cities and suburbs. Left- and right-wing parties alike took heavy losses, with the leaders of both the New Conservative and Social Democratic parties defeated in their own districts. The always feisty Communists had their worst showing in decades, losing 11 of their 20 seats. Thus the DPJ, in only the third lower-house election since the party was formed in 1996, has emerged as a clear and credible choice for disgruntled mainstream voters. Suddenly, Japanese democracy looks alive and kicking.
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