Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa on Tuesday reversed his earlier decision to step down and pledged to remain the leader of the largest opposition force.</PARAGRAPH> <PHOTO> <TABLE WIDTH='250' ALIGN='RIGHT' BORDER='0'> <TR> <TD><IMG ALT='News photo' BORDER='0' SRC='../images/photos2007/nn20071107a1a.jpg' WIDTH='250' HEIGHT='364'/></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><FONT SIZE='1'><B>Ichiro Ozawa, the president of the Democratic Party of Japan, heads for a meeting with DPJ Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama in Tokyo on Tuesday evening. Hatoyama persuaded Ozawa to stay on as DPJ leader. </B> KYODO PHOTO</FONT></TD> </TR> <TABLE> </PHOTO> <PARAGRAPH>DPJ Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama, who spent the day cajoling the party's rank and file into uniting behind Ozawa, met with him in the evening to persuade him to stay on.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Emerging from the meeting, Hatoyama quoted Ozawa as telling him, 'I feel ashamed to say this, but I would like to do my utmost again' as the party's leader.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Hatoyama also said he gave Ozawa's letter of resignation back to him.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Ozawa's change of heart came after Hatoyama assured him the party was behind him completely. But Hatoyama apparently attached one condition &#8212; that Ozawa never again bring up the idea of joining hands with the ruling coalition.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>It wasn't easy for the DPJ executives to line up the party rank and file. Some were highly critical of Ozawa for tendering his resignation so suddenly on Sunday.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Party executives, on the other hand, had expressed confidence he would change his mind and stay at the helm.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>DPJ executives, apparently fearing that Ozawa's possible departure would lead to the party's breakup, felt compelled to give junior members an official and detailed explanation of recent developments. They offered assurances that the party would not form a coalition with the Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling bloc and instead would continue to aim for a change in political leadership by winning the next Lower House election under Ozawa's direction.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Participants said they would accept the decision of the executive committee, but many wanted to hear an explanation from Ozawa himself. 'There is no way we are going to let –

quit easily," said Kazuhiro Harada, a DPJ Lower House lawmaker. "I promised the public that we would make (Ozawa) prime minister."

One DPJ Lower House lawmaker who asked to remain anonymous, however, expressed dissatisfaction.

"I'm going to follow the decision (of the party executives), but I still want an explanation of how we can go into the next election under a leader who said we were still not capable of coming to power," he said.

During the news conference Sunday at which Ozawa suddenly expressed his intention to resign, he criticized the DPJ for still lacking strength and said it would be difficult to win the next Lower House election on its own.