Veteran Diet lawmaker Ichiro Ozawa continues to make headlines, even for things he doesn't do.
After a long courtship, Democratic Party of Japan President Naoto Kan on Thursday finally convinced the former president of the now-defunct Liberal Party to accept the position of DPJ vice president. Ozawa also agreed to serve as acting president and vice prime minister of the DPJ's shadow Cabinet, which it calls "The Next Cabinet."
The two parties merged in September, and although Kan and other party executives saw it as essential that Ozawa hold a key party post as a symbol of amity between the two groups, Ozawa had been spurning such requests. This in turn prompted speculation that he was refusing to commit to the DPJ because he was expecting further political realignments.