Japan's latest elections highlighted structural issues for the dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which could in the coming months drive it to expand its coalition or incorporate its rivals' policies to address the public's economic concerns; otherwise, Japan may turn inward for years, and though the LDP will emerge still atop the country's political system, it will do so as first among equals rather than as its undisputed leader. The LDP's losses in the July 20 upper house elections spurred heated debates about the fate of LDP President and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in both Nagatacho -- the seat of government in Tokyo -- and in Japanese society at large. While the LDP itself is divided about Ishiba's fate, one thing its members and the general public agree on is that the party is experiencing a systemic electoral crisis that will not be solved by either preserving or ousting...
