In watching (very casually) NHK coverage of the competition within the DPJ for who gets to be PM under the Buggin's turn principle that seems to govern such things, I notice that the terminology surname-group rather than surname-faction is being used.

Are contemporary DPJ "groups" in any significant way different from the "factions" (habatsu) that were the unit of analysis for LDP succession tussles? Or, is change in terminology another reflection of the degree to which the DPJ is really LDP-Lite.

EHK