Former secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan, Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, announced Thursday that he will run in the Sept. 14 election for the next DPJ chief against Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who had expressed his intention to run. The two must do their utmost to prevent their duel from becoming an internecine power struggle.
They should talk about what kind of a nation they want to build and how they will handle such issues as the economy and social welfare. They also should suggest how to best resolve the issue of relocating U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa Prefecture. Mr. Ozawa suffers from a bad image stemming from questionable handling of political funds reports by his office. To gain the understanding of party members and voters, he needs to explain more about the scandal.
Mr. Ozawa, who resigned together with then Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama over funds scandals in June, had wanted Mr. Kan to establish an "all-party setup" in which he could exercise his political influence. Despite mediation by Mr. Hatoyama, Mr. Kan refused to comply with the request. It is clear that Mr. Ozawa decided to run in order to keep his influence within the party.