Japan ready to vote in major shift in leadership?

Mr. Hatoyama also posited that the time for "an East Asian community" had come. "[We] must continue to make efforts to build frameworks for stable economic cooperation and national security across the region," he said.

For Japanese voters, the key issue seems to be a deep-seated desire for a little political dynamism in dealing with entrenched problems, including a rapidly aging society. As political analyst Minoru Morita put it: "More people's lives have begun to crumble and many smaller businesses are on the verge of collapse. I can hear a collective groan coming from all over Japan."

Will they get it? The DPJ platform is not radically different from that of the LDP. They're not as experienced at government. But their election could blow a fresh breeze through Japan's political and bureaucratic establishment – and energize a public that has become disillusioned about the country's politics in recent years, as the Monitor reported recently.

"The election victory of the DPJ also means that it will be the first time in history that the Japanese people voted a change of government," says Masayasu Kitagawa, a former governor of Mie Prefecture and now the director of the Research Institute of Manifesto at Waseda University in Tokyo. "The people certainly have become excited. I'm sure we will see a high turnout."

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Japan's politics got you down? Find an antidote in the vibrant cultural scene.
The country has become a leader in 'soft power' influence – from anime to the Toyota Prius to a town that plans to become waste-free by 2020. Check out our 3-part Japan Influential series to find out more.

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Follow Asia Bureau Chief Peter Ford's upcoming reports about Japan's pivotal vote on Twitter.

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