One of the longest leases on power in the post-war era looks likely to end on August 30th. In Japan's curiously genteel election campaign, opinion polls indicate that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (ldp) is heading for defeat. This wouldrnonly be good for Japan. The ldp, in power almost without interruption since 1955, is a cold-war relic. Its days have been numbered since the collapse of the Berlin Wall coincided with the bursting of Japan's bubble economy.
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