You could have been forgiven for mistaking the country you were in had you been reading the Japanese papers over the last few months: a government on the nose with voters; a leader under pressure from his peers; and a resurgent center-left opposition talking of its plans for power.

In the end, Japan's governing coalition was trounced in the July29 elections for its upper house. For the first time in 50 years, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is not the largest party in the upper house. It also falls short of a working majority, even in coalition.

The result does not lead to an immediate change in government; the election was held for the upper house of its bicameral parliament, and Japan, like Australia, is governed by the party with a majority in the lower house.

Still, it is already having profound political effects, particularly on Japanese security policy. The opposition has signaled it will use its majority in the upper house to vote down the extension of a law enabling Japanese support for US and other countries' forces operating in the Indian Ocean. Although the bill can be entered into law if passed once again by the government's super majority in the lower house, this hardly amounts to a strategy for managing parliament. Failure to renew the law, on the other hand, will force Japan to withdraw its forces.

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