To Ellis and Paul:

Just a few brief additional comments about what precipitates the resignations of sitting prime
ministers:

There was a key difference between the situation that Fukuda Abe and Mori faced and what Kan faced : the former (LDP PMs) did not have to deal with the negative and destructive forces unleashed by Ozawa within their own party. Ozawa was the leader of an internal revolt against Kan who beat him in the presidential race on 14th September 2010 and who then assiduously practised a campaign of 'datsu' Ozawa. Ozawa’s post-election behaviour can only be described as a campaign of ‘psychological warfare’ against Kan. As Ozawa’s subsequent record showed, he plotted against and destabilised the Kan government at every turn. This campaign culminated in the no-confidence vote in the Kan cabinet on 2nd June 2011. The Ozawa faction formed itself into a “party within a party” (tōchūtōka) and even went as far as operating as an “intra-party opposition party" (tōnai yatōka)’. Issues that it chose to oppose the Kan administration on included the TPP (Kan's pet project) as well as carping endlessly from the sidelines about the Kan administration's poor performance in dealing with the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami (despite the fact that Ozawa himself 'disappeared' for a good month after the disaster). True, Fukuda, Abe and Kan all faced a non-compliant Upper House in which they did not have a majority either, but Kan was faced with intra-party political sabotage AS WELL AS a recalcitrant Upper House. In the end this drove him (and it would seem Noda as well) into the arms of the LDP. Hey ho, there could be a grand coalition coming on.

Just a note about the recent spectacle that we've seen in Australian politics (Kevin Rudd - Krudd to his detractors - having another go at the prime
ministership) - the similarities between his behaviour and Ozawa's within his own party were so striking, I almost contemplated writing a serious piece on it (entitled perhaps 'rogue politician on the rampage'), but I resisted.

Best wishes,

Aurelia George Mulgan
UNSW, Canberra