December's election aftermath offered a good chance to learn synonyms for "crushing defeat" and "overwhelming victory." Taihai (大敗, great defeat), kanpai (完敗, total defeat) — not to be confused with kanpai! (乾杯, cheers!) — kaimetsutekina haiboku (壊滅的な敗北, annihilating defeat), zanpai (惨敗, crushing defeat), rekishitekina haiboku (歴史的な敗北, historic defeat) on the one side; taisho (大勝, great victory); assho (圧勝, landslide) on the other. If defeat predominates in this list it's because the media tended to focus more on the incumbent's defeat than on the challenger's victory. As the Nihon Keizai Shimbun editorialized, "Jiminto ga taisho shita to iu yori, minshuto ga sanpai shita senkyo datta (自民党が大勝したというより、民主党が惨敗した選挙だった, Rather than a great victory for the Liberal Democratic Party [LDP], the election was a pitiful defeat for the Democratic Party of Japan [DPJ].")

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in the first flush of 大勝, seemed not unaware of this. He said, "Jiminto ni kanzen ni shinrai ga modotta to iu koto de wa nai (自民党に完全に信頼が戻ったということではない, Trust has not completely returned to the LDP.") The Yomiuri Shimbun, which shares the LDP's rightwing slant, warned, "Jiminto wa ogotte wa naranai (自民党は奢ってはならない, The LDP is in no position to boast.")

So far it's not boasting. Abe said, humbly enough, "Kekka wo dashite iku koto de kokumin no shinnin wo ete iku (結果を出していくことで国民の信任を得ていく, We will deliver results and earn the people's confidence.") What results does he intend to pursue? His hoshuteki (保守的, conservative), not to say takaha (タカ派, hawkish) priorities are well known. Campaign promises aside, he was prime minister once before, in 2006-07, a stint more remembered for his flurried resignation under pressure than for his one notable accomplishment — easing tensions with China. He talked much then about his vision of utsukushii Nippon (美しい日本, beautiful Japan), the national beauty reflected especially in citizens willing to kuni no tame ni inochi wo kakeru (国のために命を懸ける, put their lives on the line for their country). Clearly this harks back to World War II and to attitudes that Japan's defeat was supposed to have rendered extinct.