Prime Minister Naoto Kan failed again Thursday to coax indicted Democratic Party of Japan heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa into leaving the DPJ.
In their 50-minute meeting, Kan asked Ozawa to relinquish his membership in the DPJ and to wait until a ruling is handed down in his trial on charges of falsifying his political funds reports before trying to rejoin the fold.
Kan is trying to get Ozawa to leave the DPJ to show the public he is taking the Ozawa scandal seriously and to tighten control over his party, which is being destabilized by Ozawa's disciples.