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9 DPJ lawmakers submit resignation

TOKYO, Japan - Akira Uchiyama (front) and other lawmakers of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan head to the party secretary general's room in the Diet building in Tokyo on Dec. 28, 2011. Nine DPJ lawmakers including Uchiyama submitted their resignation to the party in protest at DPJ leader and Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's policies.

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DPJ takes control of upper house

TOKYO, Japan - Emperor Akihito addresses the opening of an extraordinary session of the Diet in the House of Councillors chamber on Aug. 7. The main opposition Democratic Party of Japan took control of the upper house for the first time, with senior DPJ lawmaker Satsuki Eda elected president of the chamber, marking the start of political gridlock between the ruling and opposition camps.

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DPJ takes control of upper house

TOKYO, Japan - Newly elected members of the House of Councillors from the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan pose for photos against the Diet building in Tokyo on Aug. 3 as the Diet is convened the same day for a short post-election extraordinary session.

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Ex-secretary general Hosono to run in DPJ leadership election

TOKYO, Japan - Goshi Hosono (C), former secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan, leaves a general meeting of DPJ Diet members at the party's headquarters in Tokyo's Nagatacho district on Dec. 17, 2014. Hosono said the same day he will run in the largest opposition party's leadership race on Jan. 18 to pick a successor to outgoing DPJ President Banri Kaieda.

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DPJ to hold leadership election in Jan.

TOKYO, Japan - Banri Kaieda (R), the outgoing leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, and other party executives hold a meeting at the DPJ's headquarters in Tokyo's Nagatacho district on Dec. 16, 2014. The DPJ decided to hold a presidential election in January to choose a successor to Kaieda who failed to retain his Diet seat and announced he will step down.

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PM Abe faces DPJ leader Kaieda at Diet debate

TOKYO, Japan - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (R) speaks during a face-to-face debate with Banri Kaieda (L), leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, at the Diet in Tokyo on Dec. 4, 2013.

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PM Abe faces DPJ leader Kaieda at Diet debate

TOKYO, Japan - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (R) speaks during a face-to-face debate with Banri Kaieda (L), leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, at the Diet in Tokyo on Dec. 4, 2013.

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Antinuclear rally in Tokyo

TOKYO, Japan - A large antinuclear rally is held in the Nagatacho district of Tokyo, where the prime minister's office and the Diet building are located, on Dec. 21, 2012, the first since the Dec. 16 general election in which the Democratic Party of Japan suffered a crushing defeat, allowing the Liberal Democratic Party to regain power. The LDP has said it plans to make a comprehensive decision on restarts for all nuclear reactors in the country within three years, in sharp contrast to the DPJ, which pledged to phase out nuclear energy by the 2030s.

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Antinuclear rally in Tokyo

TOKYO, Japan - A large antinuclear rally is held in the Nagatacho district of Tokyo, where the prime minister's office and the Diet building are located, on Dec. 21, 2012, the first since the Dec. 16 general election in which the Democratic Party of Japan suffered a crushing defeat, allowing the Liberal Democratic Party to regain power. The LDP has said it plans to make a comprehensive decision on restarts for all nuclear reactors in the country within three years, in sharp contrast to the DPJ, which pledged to phase out nuclear energy by the 2030s.

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Antinuclear rally in Tokyo

TOKYO, Japan - A large antinuclear rally is held in the Nagatacho district of Tokyo, where the prime minister's office and the Diet building are located, on Dec. 21, 2012, the first since the Dec. 16 general election in which the Democratic Party of Japan suffered a crushing defeat, allowing the Liberal Democratic Party to regain power. The LDP has said it plans to make a comprehensive decision on restarts for all nuclear reactors in the country within three years, in sharp contrast to the DPJ, which pledged to phase out nuclear energy by the 2030s.

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Moving inside Diet building

TOKYO, Japan - Moving company workers on Dec. 21, 2012 carry a board bearing the Democratic Party of Japan's logo and slogan, which has been used by the party as a backdrop when its officials held press conferences, inside the Diet building in Tokyo, where political parties began relocating lounges for their lawmakers following the Dec. 16 general election. Customarily, each party gets space for a lounge whose size is in proportion to the number of its parliamentary seats. The DPJ, which saw its number of seats plunge to 57 from 230 in the 480-seat House of Representatives, is giving up a wide space on the front side of the second floor of the building to the Liberal Democratic Party, which increased its seats to 294 from 119.

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3 lawmakers leaving DPJ to join Hashimoto's new party

TOKYO, Japan - Three lawmakers from the Democratic Party of Japan -- Yorihisa Matsuno (2nd from L), a former deputy chief Cabinet secretary and a House of Representatives member, Takashi Ishizeki (far R), also a lower house member, and Masashi Mito (C), a House of Councillors member -- carry their letters of resignation which they handed to DPJ Acting Secretary General Shinji Tarutoko at the Diet building in Tokyo on Sept. 11, 2012. They are among seven lawmakers planning to join a new political party to be set up soon by Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto.

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Ex-DPJ leader Ozawa to form new party

TOKYO, Japan - Ichiro Ozawa, former leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, speaks after being approved as the head of a new party at a meeting at a Diet facility in Tokyo on July 4, 2012. Ozawa and lawmakers close to him held the meeting to prepare for the planned launch of a new party as early as next week, following their departure from the ruling DPJ in protest at the government's sales tax hike proposal.

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Ex-DPJ leader Ozawa to form new party

TOKYO, Japan - Ichiro Ozawa (C), former leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, smiles after being approved as the head of a new party at a meeting at a Diet facility in Tokyo on July 4, 2012. Ozawa and lawmakers close to him held the meeting to prepare for the planned launch of a new party as early as next week, following their departure from the ruling DPJ in protest at the government's sales tax hike proposal.

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Ozawa to decide on whether to leave ruling DPJ

TOKYO, Japan - Ichiro Ozawa (C), former leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, walks in the Diet in Tokyo after talks with DPJ Secretary General Azuma Koshiishi on June 29, 2012. The ruling party could split soon, less than three years since it took power, with Ozawa, head of the largest intraparty faction, indicating he will decide July 2 on whether to leave the party over Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's sales tax hike proposal.

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Ozawa pushing for DPJ split over sales tax hike plan

TOKYO, Japan - Former Democratic Party of Japan leader Ichiro Ozawa heads for a meeting of his political faction at a Diet building in Tokyo on June 22, 2012. Ozawa referred the previous day to the possibility of creating a new party unless Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's government drops its proposal to raise the consumption tax rate.

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Ozawa pushing for DPJ split over sales tax hike plan

TOKYO, Japan - Former Democratic Party of Japan leader Ichiro Ozawa heads for a meeting of his political faction at a Diet building in Tokyo on June 22, 2012. Ozawa referred the previous day to the possibility of creating a new party unless Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's government drops its proposal to raise the consumption tax rate.

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Ozawa might create new party

TOKYO, Japan - Former Democratic Party of Japan leader Ichiro Ozawa heads for a meeting with DPJ Secretary General Azuma Koshiishi in the Diet on June 21, 2012. Ozawa referred to the possibility of creating a new party unless Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's government drops its proposal to raise the nation's sales tax rate, raising the specter of a split in the ruling party.

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New education minister Hirano

TOKYO, Japan - Undated file photo shows Hirofumi Hirano, Diet affairs chief of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan. DPJ chief and Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda appointed Hirano on Jan. 13, 2012, as education minister to replace Masaharu Nakagawa, while giving Hirano's party post to DPJ Deputy Secretary General Koriki Jojima.

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Noda eyes DPJ Okada as deputy prime minister

TOKYO, Japan - Katsuya Okada, former secretary general of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, leaves a Diet facility in Tokyo on Jan. 11, 2012. A senior party lawmaker said the same day that Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has sounded out Okada, who now heads the party's administrative reform panel, about joining his Cabinet as deputy prime minister when the premier reshuffles it.

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DPJ's Hirata to become upper house president

TOKYO, Japan - Kenji Hirata, secretary general of the governing Democratic Party of Japan's upper house caucus, speaks with reporters in the Diet building in Tokyo on Nov. 11, 2011. DPJ lawmakers said the same day that the House of Councillors is expected to elect Hirata as its president Nov. 14, succeeding Takeo Nishioka who died Nov. 5.

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CORRECTED Secretaries general of DPJ, LDP, New Komeito

TOKYO, Japan - ADDING 'PARTY' AFTER NEW KOMEITO Secretaries general of the ruling and two largest opposition parties -- (from R) Azuma Koshiishi of the Democratic Party of Japan, Nobuteru Ishihara of the Liberal Democratic Party, and Yoshihisa Inoue of New Komeito party -- hold talks at the Diet building in Tokyo on Oct. 6, 2011. The DPJ called for the opposition parties' cooperation to secure quick Diet passage of the third extra budget for FY 2011, designed to fund reconstruction of areas devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

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Fujimura to be chief Cabinet secretary

TOKYO, Japan - Osamu Fujimura, deputy secretary general of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, heads to a room for DPJ executives in the Diet building in Tokyo on Sept. 1, 2011. Incoming Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda selected Fujimura, one of the lawmakers closest to the premier-elect, as chief Cabinet secretary and top government spokesman.

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New leadership of Japan's ruling party

TOKYO, Japan - (From L) Democratic Party of Japan President Yoshihiko Noda, Azuma Koshiishi, secretary general of the DPJ, Seiji Maehara, DPJ policy chief, and Hirofumi Hirano, the party's Diet affairs chief, raise their fists at a DPJ lawmaker meeting in Tokyo on Aug. 31, 2011. The ruling DPJ launched its new leadership the same day under its president Noda.

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Tarutoko to become DPJ acting secretary general

TOKYO, Japan - Shinji Tarutoko, former Diet affairs chief of the Democratic Party of Japan, meets with reporters at the DPJ's headquarters in Tokyo on Aug. 30, 2011, shortly after holding talks with Yoshihiko Noda, the ruling party's new leader. Noda, who was named prime minister in the Diet the same day, decided to appoint Tarutoko as the party's acting secretary general.

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Hirano to become DPJ Diet affairs chief

TOKYO, Japan - Former Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano leaves the Democratic Party of Japan's headquarters in Tokyo on Aug. 30, 2011, after holding talks with Yoshihiko Noda, the ruling party's new leader. Noda, who was named prime minister in the Diet the same day, decided to appoint Hirano as the party's Diet affairs chief.

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Maehara to become DPJ policy chief

TOKYO, Japan - Former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara meets with reporters at the Democratic Party of Japan's headquarters in Tokyo on Aug. 30, 2011, shortly after holding talks with Yoshihiko Noda, the ruling party's new leader. Noda, who was named prime minister in the Diet the same day, decided to appoint Maehara as the party's policy chief.

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Tarutoko plans candidacy for DPJ leadership

TOKYO, Japan - Shinji Tarutoko (C) of the Democratic Party of Japan receives applause from fellow DPJ members belonging to a faction he leads, at a meeting in Tokyo on Aug. 11, 2011. Tarutoko's aides said the same day that the fifth-term lower house member, the former chairman of the DPJ's Diet Affairs Committee, plans to run in the governing party's leadership election, expected to be called in late August.

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Tarutoko plans candidacy for DPJ leadership

TOKYO, Japan - Undated file photo shows Shinji Tarutoko of the Democratic Party of Japan. Tarutoko's aides said on Aug. 11, 2011 that the fifth-term lower house member, the former chairman of the DPJ's Diet Affairs Committee, plans to run in the governing party's leadership election, expected to be called in late August.

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Ex-DPJ chief Ozawa

TOKYO, Japan - Former Democratic Party of Japan leader Ichiro Ozawa speaks during a meeting of some House of Councillors members at a Diet building in Tokyo on Aug. 10, 2011. The Tokyo District Court decided the same day to hold the first hearing of Ozawa's trial over alleged false reporting by his political fund management body on Oct. 6.

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Ruling party bigwig Ozawa

TOKYO, Japan - Ruling Democratic Party of Japan bigwig Ichiro Ozawa leaves a meeting with lawmakers loyal to him in Tokyo on June 2, 2011. Ozawa the same day abstained from voting on an opposition-proposed no-confidence motion against Prime Minister and DPJ President Naoto Kan at the Diet.

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Ruling DPJ's key figures

TOKYO, Japan - Combined photo shows Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan (C) at the Diet building on June 2, 2011, former prime minister Yukio Hatoyama (L) at the Diet building on June 2 and Ichiro Ozawa, former leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, at a Tokyo hotel on June 1.

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Ruling party bigwig Ozawa

TOKYO, Japan - Ruling Democratic Party of Japan bigwig Ichiro Ozawa leaves a meeting with lawmakers loyal to him at a hotel in Tokyo on the evening of June 1, 2011. Ozawa abstained from voting on an opposition-proposed no-confidence motion against Prime Minister and DPJ President Naoto Kan at the Diet on June 2. Kan survived the vote.

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Salary cut for lawmakers

TOKYO, Japan - Photo taken March 28, 2011, shows Yoshihisa Inoue (L, facing), secretary general of the New Komeito party, Nobuteru Ishihara (C), secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, and Katsuya Okada (2nd from R) secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan, ahead of their discussions in the Diet in Tokyo. Prime Minister Naoto Kan's DPJ and the two opposition parties agreed the same day to cut 3 million yen from each parliamentarian's salary to help generate funds for reconstruction work following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

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DPJ lawmaker tries to leave party

TOKYO, Japan - Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Yuko Sato heads to DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada's office in a Diet building in Tokyo on March 3, 2011. The first-term lower house member of the ruling party filed her decision with the party leadership to join a regional political group launched by Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura. Okada did not accept her resignation and asked her to stay in the party.

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DPJ lawmaker tries to leave party

TOKYO, Japan - Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Yuko Sato is surrounded by reporters in a Diet building in Tokyo on March 3, 2011, after filing her decision with the party leadership to join a regional political group launched by Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura. DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada did not accept the first-term lower house member's resignation and asked her to stay in the party.

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Punishment for dissident lawmakers

TOKYO, Japan - Executives of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan meet at the Diet building in Tokyo on March 1, 2011, to discuss disciplinary measures against 16 DPJ lawmakers who skipped voting on the budget plan for fiscal 2011 during a plenary session of the House of Representatives earlier in the day. The executives decided to suspend the party membership of one of the 16, Koichiro Watanabe, who led the rebellion, for six months and to reprimand the rest of the lower house members.

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Pro-Ozawa members to leave DPJ lower house group

TOKYO, Japan - Democratic Party of Japan lawmakers supporting former party head Ichiro Ozawa head to the party secretary general's room in the Diet building in Tokyo on Feb. 17, 2011. Sixteen parliamentarians of the ruling party notified the DPJ leadership of their plan to leave the party's group in the House of Representatives

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Pro-Ozawa members to leave DPJ lower house group

TOKYO, Japan - Democratic Party of Japan lawmakers supporting former party head Ichiro Ozawa head to the party secretary general's room in the Diet building in Tokyo on Feb. 17, 2011. Sixteen parliamentarians of the ruling party notified the DPJ leadership of their plan to leave the party's group in the House of Representatives

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DPJ's No. 2 Okada cautious over sworn Diet testimony by Ozawa

TOKYO, Japan - Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Katsuya Okada speaks at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo on Dec. 22, 2010. Okada said his party will continue to seek unsworn testimony by ruling party kingpin Ichiro Ozawa before the House of Representatives' ethics panel for now.

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DPJ preparing for Ozawa's Diet testimony

TOKYO, Japan - Ichiro Ozawa (R), a power broker in the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, leaves a hotel in Tokyo on Dec. 15, 2010. DPJ sources said the same day that party executives are preparing to have Ozawa testify at a parliamentary ethics panel concerning allegations of financial misconduct involving his political body.

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DPJ's Ozawa at lower house session

TOKYO, Japan - Ichiro Ozawa (C), a veteran lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, attends a House of Representatives session in Tokyo on Oct. 6, 2010. Sadakazu Tanigaki, head of the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, called for Ozawa to testify at the Diet over his imminent indictment in connection with a political funds scandal.

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DPJ set for tough Diet debates on budget

TOKYO, Japan - Katsuya Okada, secretary general of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, speaks at a news conference at DPJ headquarters in Tokyo on Sept. 22, 2010, after an extraordinary parliamentary session was set for an Oct. 1 start. Okada said the ruling party, which has lost its majority in the upper house, brought the starting date forward from an earlier plan seeing more time for deliberations and arrangements with opposition parties on budget and other bills.

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DPJ set for tough Diet debates on budget

TOKYO, Japan - Katsuya Okada, secretary general of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, speaks at a news conference at DPJ headquarters in Tokyo on Sept. 22, 2010, after an extraordinary parliamentary session was set for an Oct. 1 start. Okada said the ruling party, which has lost its majority in the upper house, brought the starting date forward from an earlier plan seeing more time for deliberations and arrangements with opposition parties on budget and other bills.

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DPJ set for tough Diet debates on budget

TOKYO, Japan - Katsuya Okada, secretary general of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, speaks at a news conference at DPJ headquarters in Tokyo on Sept. 22, 2010, after an extraordinary parliamentary session was set for an Oct. 1 start. Okada said the ruling party, which has lost its majority in the upper house, brought the starting date forward from an earlier plan seeing more time for deliberations and arrangements with opposition parties on budget and other bills.

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New DPJ Diet affairs chief Hachiro

TOKYO, Japan - Yoshio Hachiro, new chairman of the Democratic Party of Japan's Diet Affairs Committee, speaks at a press conference in Tokyo on Sept. 17, 2010. Hachiro is expected to steer the divided Diet in which the ruling camp controls the House of Representatives while the opposition bloc holds a majority in the House of Councillors.

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New DPJ Diet affairs chief Hachiro

TOKYO, Japan - Yoshio Hachiro, new chairman of the Democratic Party of Japan's Diet Affairs Committee, speaks at a press conference in Tokyo on Sept. 17, 2010. Hachiro is expected to steer the divided Diet in which the ruling camp controls the House of Representatives while the opposition bloc holds a majority in the House of Councillors.

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Ozawa asks support for DPJ leadership election

TOKYO, Japan - Ichiro Ozawa, powerful lawmaker of the Democratic Party of Japan, and Ryoko Tani, popular Olympic gold medalist judo wrestler and a rookie upper house lawmaker, shake hands at a Diet member building in Tokyo on Sept. 3, 2010. Ozawa visited DPJ lawmakers to ask for their support in the Sept. 14 presidential election of the ruling party, in which he will run against Prime Minister Naoto Kan.

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Upper house election campaign effectively begins

TOKYO, Japan - Prime Minister Naoto Kan (R) talks with Yukio Edano, secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan, at a meeting of the DPJ's House of Councillors lawmakers at the Diet building in Tokyo on June 16, 2010. The campaign for the upper house election slated for July 11 effectively began the same day with the end of a 150-day parliamentary session.

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Ex-accountant of DPJ lawmaker Kobayashi given suspended term

TOKYO, Japan - Chiyomi Kobayashi, a House of Representatives member of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, speaks to reporters at the Diet in Tokyo on June 9, 2010, after her former accountant was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for three years, by the Sapporo District Court. Kobayashi apologized for causing public distrust of politics.