Probably the most impressive aspect of the recent Upper House Elections was the
way in which the former Komeito managed to leverage its--relative to the
Japanese voting population small--voter support for the benefit of the
Shinshinto. I am not quite sure how it works, but the papers are abuzz and at
least one LDP politician to whom I spoke before the election thinks this kind of
thing should be outlawed: The (ex-)Komeito is not a real political party.

Tracing back the history of political reform for my own work, I have come to
wonder about the role which the Komeito played in opposition politics in the
1960s. It seems that far from being merely the political arm of a captive voting
block, they went to some lengths to give the LDP some real opposition,
especially on the populist topic of "political corruption". Hence they took the
name--from what is now called 'akarui senkyo undo', I might add, who were not
amused.

Are there any studies on the Komeito, especially the early years? How did they
start out organising the vote, and how soon did they learn to maximise the
impact? Was there support initially from non-captive voters, and was it caused
by conscious appeals to them, on what issues?

I'd appreciate your advice on these questions.

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