In Sunday's Upper House election — perhaps the least contentious national contest since the early 2000s — the ruling Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito coalition capitalized on the Japanese public's general acceptance of the status quo to retain its control of the Diet chamber.
Now that the election is over, there are some key milestones on the political calendar ahead. The first thing observers are likely to see in the next few days is a switchover of a handful of politicians between parties. It is common for some independents to join an organized party or to see politicians jump from one party to another. This usually results in one to five changes to seat totals after the election is done. Given the results, these individual moves will have little effect on the overall post-election power balance in the Diet.
The next thing that will happen is an extraordinary session of the Diet to formalize the results of the Upper House election. The Diet will convene solely for that purpose before closing again for the next couple of months.