ISAS Briefs

The victory of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) in the Japanese Lower House elections in late August 2009 brought to an end half a century of uninterrupted rule by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in Japanese politics. It also signalled a potential “revolution” in Japan’s domestic and foreign policies. However, with about two months into this new DPJ era, in terms of Japanese foreign policy at least, it is yet unclear as to how radical a departure this new government will take from the central tenets of the preceding Japanese foreign policy