The so-called main third force parties hope to cast themselves after the Lower House election as viable alternatives to the established parties by proposing ambitious, even radical, reforms in a number of areas.
But given widespread predictions of victory for the Liberal Democratic Party, the symbol of old-guard politics, just how realistic are their plans to address the main issues of this year's campaign — the consumption tax, the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks and nuclear policy?
Of the three emergent third-force parties, Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party), founded by Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto and now run by hawkish ex-Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, is likely to win the most seats. The party originally espoused a mixture of populist stances on issues like nuclear power and government waste, and had a more Reaganite agenda to slim down government, promote privatization schemes, and, above all, replace the prefecture system with a regional bloc system, an idea long pushed by Kansai business groups.
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