<figure id="attachment_462960" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-462960" style="width: 1477px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="afc2768c"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/03/79fac0ee6c9db68f25e3cef4081a3b1e.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-462960" class="wp-caption-text">Representative Ogawa facing harsh criticism from unsuccessful centrist lawmakers</figcaption></figure>
<h3> No longer able to pay for the location of the party convention</h3>
 On March 29, a cherry blossom viewing day, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan held its party convention. Junya Ogawa, 54, representative of the Chudo Reform Coalition, said in his speech as guest of honor, &#8220;I am standing here today, holding back the urge to say, &#8216;I&#8217;m home.
 Just before the February lower house election, the Rikken and Komeito lower house members formed a new party, Nakamichi, ahead of the others, but it failed miserably. A party convention would normally be held at a hotel in central Tokyo, but 140 Lower House members left the party, and the cash-strapped Rikken held its convention on the fifth floor of the party&#8217;s headquarters. It was a familiar venue, having been in the same building since the days of the former Democratic Party of Japan, and the members in attendance were all familiar faces, which perhaps explains why Ogawa said, &#8220;I&#8217;m home.
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 In the February lower house election, the LDP won an overwhelming 316 seats, while the center-right party lost 49 seats, a sharp decline. Among them, the number of lawmakers from the Rikken fell to 21. Ogawa, the new representative elected after the lower house election, was not directly responsible for the situation, but as the leader of the middle-of-the-road party, he expressed his pain: &#8220;For me personally, it was a bolt out of the blue.
 He said, &#8220;It was a bolt out of the blue and a surprise for me personally, but I am grateful for all the support and assistance I received under such complicated feelings and in such difficult circumstances. I could not respond with sufficient results. I feel responsible.&#8221;
 The party&#8217;s activity policy for the next fiscal year was compiled at the party convention, but the momentum for a merger of the remaining upper house members and local assembly members in the Rikkyo Constitution has cooled off due to the party&#8217;s sluggish popularity in the middle part of the country, and the activity policy did not explicitly call for such a merger.
 Some people want the three parties to join forces with the centrist parties, while others want to remain independent. It depends on how the discussions go.
 As Shunichi Mizuoka, 69, the representative of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), stated at a press conference, the slogan of &#8220;rallying the forces of the center-right before the February lower house election has faded, and a path forward cannot be drawn.
 The results of a public opinion poll conducted by the Yomiuri Shimbun from March 20 to 22 also came as a shock. The Yomiuri Shimbun&#8217;s March 20-22 poll showed that support for the centrist parties was down 3 points from the previous survey in February, to 2%.
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 Ogawa, the new representative of the party, has been vigorously exposing himself to the mass media in order to rebuild the party. At that time, his abstract and ambiguous statements with ambiguous conclusions and his unique phrasing with long preliminaries became a topic of conversation on the Internet as &#8216;Ogajun syntax.
 He was featured in director Arata Oshima&#8217;s documentary film &#8220;Why Can&#8217;t You Be Prime Minister?&#8221; and should have a certain popularity, but &#8230;&#8230;&#8221; (reporter from the political section of a national newspaper).
 On the LDP side, there was also the issue of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (65) distributing catalog gifts worth over 30,000 yen to lower house lawmakers belonging to her party, and the revelation in the Weekly Bunshun that Education Minister Yohei Matsumoto (52) had a double affair. The opposition parties were in the spotlight. Why is it that support for the LDP has not increased?
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Some Diet members blame the LDP for the drop in support."></div>
<figure id="attachment_462965" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-462965" style="width: 1477px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="2c6e2665"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/03/e7e32fc0daeeac0c79a237f0205d0d62.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-462965" class="wp-caption-text">Centrist and New Komeito Lawmakers Invited to DPJ Convention</figcaption></figure>
<h3> The opposition&#8217;s &#8220;showpiece&#8221; was &#8220;crushed by Prime Minister Takaichi.</h3>
 The House of Representatives cut off the budget debate by sheer force of numbers, and the opposition parties were unable to put on a &#8216;show.
 This was the analysis of Hiroyuki Konishi, 54, a member of the House of Councilors of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). The Liberal Democratic Party, which won the lower house election, used its &#8220;strength in numbers&#8221; as a backdrop to push through hard-line parliamentary management in the special Diet session, using the authority of the national opposition and the chairperson of the lower house budget committee. The Diet&#8217;s normal 80-hour deliberation period was shortened to 59 hours, and the fiscal year 2014 budget bill was forcefully adopted.
 In the first place, Prime Minister Takaichi dissolved the Diet at the beginning of the regular session and held a general election, delaying the budget deliberations for more than a month. Despite this, Takaichi was determined to pass the FY26 budget by the end of the fiscal year, and on March 13 he forced the lower house of the Diet to pass the budget bill.
 The opposition parties submitted a resolution to dismiss Budget Committee Chairman Tetsushi Sakamoto (75), but it was rejected by the ruling party.
 However, even with the short deliberation time, the committee could have pursued Prime Minister Takaichi. When questioning the distribution of catalog gifts at the Budget Committee meeting, Ogawa said, &#8220;I received a small bottle of soy sauce from Nara. It was delicious.
 Hideya Sugio, 68, a member of the House of Councilors of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, complained, &#8220;Not as much as during the Abe administration.
 He said, &#8220;It is not as bad as during the Abe administration, but when we pursue the prime minister, we are pressured to say, &#8216;Why are you pursuing scandals all the time? The opposition parties are pressured to &#8216;discuss policy. There is relentless pressure from supporters of Prime Minister Takaichi, but what should be heard in the assembly is heard and recorded in the minutes. We, the opposition parties, should not use language that puts a cushion between us and them. We are too frightened by the tone created by the Internet.&#8221;
 Mr. Tanabe agrees.
 When I raised the issue of catalog gifts in the Diet for about 30 seconds, I received many phone calls to my office complaining about it,&#8221; he said. But is it really necessary to spend as much as 10 million yen to distribute such gifts to members of the same political party? Is the LDP&#8217;s sense of &#8220;politics and money&#8221; correct?
 Prime Minister Takaichi said that there was &#8220;nothing illegal&#8221; in the expenditure by a political party branch, but why was the note labeled &#8220;Sanae Takaichi&#8221; instead of &#8220;political party branch&#8221;? Is there really no illegality? It is natural for opposition parties to check the ruling party&#8217;s exercise of power, and confronting the administration helps maintain a tense democracy.
 With the Diet dominated by the Liberal Democratic Party, and with a &#8220;single strong party and many weak parties,&#8221; what path should the weak opposition parties take? We interviewed Mr. Ogawa, who smiles and walks to the Diet Members&#8217; Building because he has no money for a cab.
 Ogawa&#8217;s approval rating is at a low 2%.
 I think it&#8217;s tough. I&#8217;m trying my best, but&#8230;
 He is doing his best, though.
 We are trying our best. I am thinking that I have to make a new claim on the probability of identity, a fundamental policy statement, and a revival. What worries me these days is that Rikken and Komei, the creators of the middle way, are also losing support; the three parties combined must have an existential support rate of 10-15%, which is not right.
 The Rikken and Komei are all down to 1 or 2 percent. The traditional support base may be dissipating. There are some issues that our party is working hard on, but the support for each of the parties has not recovered.
 One party has only members of the House of Representatives, the other has only members of the House of Councilors and local representatives, and none of the three parties has the appearance of a political party. They have not created a basic environment in which voters&#8217; expectations can be met. We will have to work very hard on our fragile foundations.
 What about the path to the prime minister&#8217;s office?
 We are far ahead of where we want to be.
 With an approval rating in the low single digits, the shape of a three-party coalition remains elusive. But whatever the form, the opposition parties should stand up to the ruling party, which outnumbers them, without fear.

 Daisuke Iwasaki

 After the heavy defeat in the lower house election, support for the Nakamichi/Rikken coalition has continued to decline despite the revelation of scandal after scandal involving Prime Minister Takaichi and senior LDP lawmakers. What do the members of the Diet think? We asked Representative Director Junya Ogawa directly.

The &#8220;Chu-do Reform Coalition&#8221; finally has an approval rating of 2%&#8230; Rikken lawmakers bitterly criticize Representative Ogawa for &#8220;flattering&#8221; Prime Minister Takaichi.

The “Chu-do Reform Coalition” finally has an approval rating of 2%… Rikken lawmakers bitterly criticize Representative Ogawa for “flattering” Prime Minister Takaichi.

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