Thasnks for the comment. I intentionally left out many issues which are very confusing. DPJ's election manifesto is a collection of goodies ranging from a child care support (300 dollars per month), direct income support to farmers, free highways to affordable housing. In essence, their promise is to create a welfare state of the Swedish type, without higher taxes.

As for foreign policy, I honestly do not know where they are.  Probably they will scale back involvement in the continuing war on terror. With Hatoyama's pledge not to visit the imperialist shrine, there will not be major problems with China (which is about to take our position of No.2 economic power) or with ROK.  Hopefully, it could give DPJ enough room to maneuver vis a vis Kim Jong Il.

If they win as expected, the next premier will be Hatoyama. He is from a well known family of academic and political achievements. A key figure in the post-election politics will be Ichiro Ozawa of DPJ. He resigned from the post of DPJ chief this year over criminal investigation of his political finance, but is highly respected by the party members.

I will become a patissier, God willing.