Even though this wasn’t quite achieved, the overall victory will give the prime minister more sway over the conservative party he brought back into power in 2012. Many members of Japan’s military don’t anticipate becoming involved in overseas wars, expecting that their work will be limited to disaster relief.
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Japan’s Nikkei rose more than 4 percent following Friday’s gains on Wall Street.
The vote for stability at home, though, is likely to provoke unease across Asia, where memories of Japanese militarism in World War II endure and the prospect of a more assertive Japan will add to worries over China’s territorial ambitions and North Korea’s nuclear program. The main liberal opposition party, the Democratic Party won 49 seats, falling from 60, while the Japanese Communist Party and Osaka Ishin no Kai increased their seat counts.
“But it also means that post-election, Abe is under renewed pressure to meet those expectations”, Henry said.
The euro jumped to 114.13 yen against 113.68 yen and strengthened to $1.1076 from 1.1057. He promised new government spending that he said would help wrest the economy out of the doldrums in a “total and aggressive” way. “It doesn’t want change”, he said.
The Liberal Democrats have ruled Japan since World War II nearly incessantly with their pro-business policies, and until recently enjoyed solid support from rural areas.
“Japan has now entered the path of a country that is able to wage war after discarding its pacifist Constitution it has retained for almost 70 years after the war”, the daily said in a dispatch from Tokyo.
Sunday’s balloting is the first election since the voting age has been lowered from 20 to 18.Japan has not been able to determine just how numerous more than two million new eligible voters will actually vote in the polls or how they will vote.
The dollar hit a one-week high above ¥102 in Tokyo late Monday, lifted by hopes for Japanese stimulus measures following the ruling bloc’s victory in Sunday’s House of Councilors election. For Abe, he said, “the ace up his sleeve is the opposition”. Although “manga” animation and other events were used to woo young voters, results from early and absentee voting show turnout may be low. Holding a so-called “supermajority” in both houses is rare, and the LDP’s long-term goal of constitutional revision has never seemed so realistic.
“But in the end”, she said, “I think all we can rely on is the LDP”.
Jiro Yonehara is a company employee, or “salaryman”, who voted Sunday.
Japanese traders said they were hopeful that a continuation of positive economic data from the U.S. would lead to the U.S. Federal Reserve rethinking a halt to its rate hike, in a sign the world’s largest economy is on a sustainable recovery path.
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“But it is not that easy, so I hope debate will deepen steadily”.
