As expected Noda has chosen the pragmatic option and gone with probably the lightest possible treatment of the non-defectors who didn’t vote yes on the consumption tax bill.
Aside from the immediate expulsion of the 37 defectors from Monday, Hatoyama has been given (日) a six month suspension. 18 “no” votes were conveniently given a 2 month suspension, and 15 more were given various kinds of reprimand. This means the latter 33 will be able to vote in the September DPJ leadership election.
It also seems that Ozawa right-hand man Yamaoka Kenji was being far too presumptuous in submitting the notice of resignation of some lower house members from the party – 3 have now claimed they had not actually decided to do so and after all wanted to stay in the DPJ. One has also told the press (日) that he will remain an independent and for now and will not join the Ozawa party. There may be others who are considering this option. So at this point we have 36 lower house defectors likely to join “New Party Ozawa,” with 9 members from Kizuna almost guaranteed to join plus 3 more from Suzuki Muneo’s Shinto Daichi. The total now sits at 48 maximum lower house members for Ozawa’s party, which will give Noda and the DPJ a little more room should some stragglers join the Ozawa Shinto.
σ1 
I’d like to give a death penalty to those who voted for the consumption tax bill.
You don’t seem very pleased! We have 15% in NZ and probably going to go up again in the future, so Japan is still not that high. I think there should be tax reform/reductions in other areas however, but I guess that will have to be another discussion in the future.
“Hatoyama has been given (日) a six month suspension.”
He needs more for helping to f*ck up this country even worse with infighting and promises well beyond reach even at their inception (pre 3/11)
And why am I NOT surprised Ozawa has his name in the party header 😦
Well, you won’t be pleased to learn they reduced it to 3 months! I guess they didn’t want him to take his people (which would bring down the government) and money. No argument from me on Hatoyama’s detrimental legacy. Between his Futenma promise, and Kan’s promising a tax rise before an election, the two of them kissed goodbye any chance of engaging in real domestic reform by pissing away their credibility and political capital. The fact that Noda has done anything at all is remarkable and no thanks to those two.
Apparently the new Ozawa party has decided to call itself the “The People’s Livelihood comes First” Party. Irony being is that everyone will see it for what it really is – “Ozawa First.” The party names are getting stupider and stupider. “Your Party,” “Stand up Japan,” “Bonds,” etc.