Beginnings The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) was formed on 27 April 1998. It was a merger of four previously independent parties that were opposed to the ruling
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)—the previous
Democratic Party of Japan, the
Good Governance Party (民政党,
Minseitō), the
New Fraternity Party (新党友愛,
Shintō-Yūai), and the
Democratic Reform Party (民主改革連合,
Minshu-Kaikaku-Rengō). The previous parties ranged in ideology from
conservative to
social-democratic. The new party began with ninety-three members of the
House of Representatives and thirty-eight members of the
House of Councilors. Moreover, the party officials were elected as well at the party convention for the first time;
Naoto Kan, former
Health and Welfare Minister was appointed as the president of the party and
Tsutomu Hata, former
prime minister as secretary-general. On 24 September 2003 the party formally merged with the small, centre-right
Liberal Party led by
Ichirō Ozawa in a move largely considered in preparation for the
2003 general election held on 9 November 2003. This move immediately gave the DPJ eight more seats in the House of Councilors. In the
2003 general election, the DPJ gained a total of 178 seats. This was short of their objectives, but nevertheless a significant demonstration of the new group's strength. Following a
pension scandal, Naoto Kan resigned and was replaced with moderate liberal
Katsuya Okada. In the
2004 House of Councillors election, the DPJ won a seat more than the ruling Liberal Democrats, but the LDP still maintained its firm majority in total votes. This was the first time since its inception that the LDP had garnered fewer votes than another party. The
2005 snap parliamentary elections called by
Junichiro Koizumi in response to the rejection of his
Postal privatization bills saw a major setback to the DPJ's plans of obtaining a majority in the Diet. The DPJ leadership, particularly Okada, had staked their reputation on winning the election and driving the LDP from power. When the final results were in, the DPJ had lost 62 seats, mostly to its rival the LDP. Okada resigned the party leadership, fulfilling his campaign promise to do so if the DPJ did not obtain a majority in the Diet. He was replaced by
Seiji Maehara in September 2005. However, Maehara's term as party leader lasted barely half a year. Although he initially led the party's criticism of the Koizumi administration, particularly in regards to connections between LDP lawmakers and scandal-ridden
Livedoor, the revelation that a fake email was used to try and establish this link greatly damaged his credibility. The scandal led to the resignation of Representative
Hisayasu Nagata and of Maehara as party leader on 31 March. New elections for party leader were held on 7 April, in which
Ichirō Ozawa was elected president. In the
Upper House election 2007, the DPJ won 60 out of 121 contested seats, with 49 seats not up for re-election.
2009–2012 government Ozawa resigned as party leader in May 2009 after a fundraising scandal and
Yukio Hatoyama succeeded Ozawa before the
August 2009 general election, – the worst defeat for a sitting government in modern Japanese history. This was in marked contrast to the closely contested
1993 general election, the only other time the LDP has lost an election. The DPJ's strong majority in the House of Representatives assured that Hatoyama would be the next
prime minister to replace
Tarō Asō, leader of the LDP. Hatoyama was nominated on September 16 and formally appointed later that day by
Emperor Akihito in the
Tokyo Imperial Palace and formed
his Cabinet. However, the DPJ did not have a majority in the House of Councillors, which was not contested at the election, and fell just short of the 320 seats (a two-thirds majority) needed to override the upper chamber's veto power. Hatoyama was thus forced to form a coalition government with the
Social Democratic Party and the
People's New Party to ensure their support in the House of Councillors. On 2 June 2010, Hatoyama announced his resignation before a party meeting and officially resigned two days later. He cited breaking a campaign promise to close
an American military base on the island of
Okinawa Prefecture as the main reason for the move. On 28 May 2010, soon after and because of increased tensions after
the possible sinking of a Korean ship by North Korea, Hatoyama had made a deal with
U.S. President Barack Obama to retain the base for security reasons, but the deal was unpopular in Japan. He also mentioned money scandals involving a top party leader, Ozawa, who resigned as well, in his decision to step down.
Naoto Kan succeeded Hatoyama as the next President of DPJ and Prime Minister of Japan. At the
July 2010 House of Councillors election, the DPJ lost ten seats and their coalition majority. Prior to the election Kan raised the issue of an increase to Japan's 5 per cent consumption tax in order to address the country's rising debt. This proposal, together with Ozawa and Hatoyama's scandals, was viewed as one of the causes for the party's poor performance in the election. The divided house meant the government required the cooperation of smaller parties including
Your Party and the
Communist Party to ensure the passage of legislation through the upper house. Ozawa
challenged Kan's leadership of the DPJ in September 2010. Although Ozawa initially had a slight edge among DPJ members of parliament, local rank-and-file party members and activists overwhelmingly supported Kan, and according to opinion polls the wider Japanese public preferred Kan to Ozawa by as much as a 4–1 ratio. In the final vote by DPJ lawmakers Kan won with 206 votes to Ozawa's 200. After the leadership challenge, Kan reshuffled his cabinet and removed many prominent members of the pro-Ozawa faction from important posts in the new cabinet. The cabinet reshuffle also resulted in the promotion of long-time Kan ally
Yoshito Sengoku to Chief Cabinet Secretary, who the LDP labeled as the "second" Prime Minister of the Kan cabinet. In September 2010, the government intervened to weaken the surging yen by buying
U.S. dollars, a move which temporarily relieved Japan's exporters. The move proved popular with stock brokers, Japanese exporters, and the Japanese public. During its time in office, the DPJ was beset by internal conflicts and struggled to implement many of its proposed policies, an outcome described by political scientists Phillip Lipscy and Ethan Scheiner as the "paradox of political change without policy change". Legislative productivity under the DPJ was particularly low, falling to levels unprecedented in recent Japanese history according to some measures. However, the DPJ implemented a number of progressive measures during its time in office such as the provision of free public schooling through high school, increases in child-rearing subsidies, expanded unemployment insurance coverage, extended duration of a housing allowance, and stricter regulations safeguarding part-time and temporary workers.
2012–2016 return to opposition and dissolution On 24 February 2016, the DPJ announced an agreement to merge with the smaller
Japan Innovation Party (JIP) and
Vision of Reform ahead of the
Upper House elections in the summer, with a merger at a special convention agreed for 27 March. On 4 March 2016, the DPJ and JIP asked supporters for suggestions for a name for the new party. On 14 March 2016 the name of the new party was announced as
Minshintō, having been the most popular choice of possible names polled among voters. With the addition of Representatives form Vision of Reform, the DPJ and JIP merged to form the
Democratic Party on 27 March 2016. The dissolution of the DPJ is mainly attributed to the fact that the reforms that the DPJ advocated for were hard to put into place because of electoral restrictions, economic restrictions, and the fact that the reforms that would reduce the power of the bureaucracy would help deprive the DPJ of the power to implement their other reforms. Other factors that affected the dissolution of the party were the internal conflicts that paralyzed the DPJ and the fact that the DPJ aligned itself with the foreign policy of the LDP. == Ideology ==