Japanese politics used to be relatively straightforward. For about the past decade, there was a system that, although nuanced and complex at times, was consistent. There were certain power players to watch, events to pay attention to and policymaking behaviors to monitor. If you knew what to look for, there was a modicum of predictability to it all.
But the upheaval of the past year has forced a fundamental rethinking of how political watchers must observe things in Tokyo.
This means understanding why the system was upended, identifying which of the old ways of doing business are changing and paying attention to each new development in political machinations.
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