Prime Minister Taro Aso played his ultimate trump card Tuesday and dissolved the Lower House, turning a deaf ear to vociferous opponents of the move from within his own party.
The Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of Japan have now entered a head-on battle for the helm of government in an election that many expect will see the LDP stripped of its decades-long grip on power.
Aso's Cabinet approved setting the general election for Aug. 30. It will be the first postwar Lower House campaign held in the heat of August.