Japan Swings Left

[ZenGum]

I don't know if anyone cares, but The Liberal Democratic Party, which has governed Japan for all but ten months of the last 50 years, just got totally slung out and replaced by the Democratic Party of Japan.

The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) victory was largely as expected, taking 308 seats in the 480-seat Diet. However, the DPJ does not have two-thirds majority (320), and thus will need coalition partners in order to ensure smooth passage of laws through the still-divided Upper House.

Morgan Stanley

Japan's opposition party won an overwhelming victory at the polls on Sunday pledging to increase social welfare, better protect workers and do away with American-style, pro-market reforms to lead the country out of its long slump.

SNIP

“The recent economic crisis resulted from a way of thinking based on the idea that American-style free-market economics represents a universal and ideal economic order,” Mr. Hatoyama wrote ...

NYT


The global political pendulum had been swinging to the right for at least a few decades - since the early seventies, I would say. It now seems to be getting into a significant backswing.