Ichiro Ozawa, former secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan, has been attracting attention over his support of politicians other than party leaders.
Ozawa openly has opposed Prime Minister Naoto Kan's remarks advocating a consumption tax hike and concerning the DPJ's revision of its manifesto.
Ozawa has also become increasingly confrontational toward the DPJ's current executive board.
A senior DPJ member said, "Ozawa probably intends to contest the party leadership election in late September, when the prime minister's term [as DPJ president] expires, and will make the consumption tax issue, among other things, a point of dispute".
On Friday, Ozawa visited the election campaign offices of party candidates in the upcoming House of Councillors election in Gifu and Nagoya. Though Ozawa did not deliver speeches Friday, he has done so on 14 occasions since the election's June 24 announcement, selecting farming villages and remote islands as venues.
Ozawa has made unique campaign appearances on behalf of upper house candidates. On one occasion, only about 20 people were on hand to hear his speech.
Ozawa clearly differed from the DPJ executives in not only campaign style but in the substance of his remarks.
Speaking Thursday in Asago, Hyogo Prefecture, Ozawa criticized calls by the prime minister and his aides for a consumption tax hike.
"It's possible to eliminate wasteful spending by trillions of yen," Ozawa said.
On the same day in Fukuchiyama, Kyoto Prefecture, Ozawa declared in a speech, "I shall honor promises made to the public at any cost," apparently referring to a remark by DPJ Secretary General Yukio Edano, who had criticized Ozawa as a populist.
Yoshimitsu Takashima, secretary general of the DPJ upper house caucus and a close aide to Ozawa, also openly criticized the prime minister in a speech Friday in Minami-Alps, Yamanashi Prefecture.
"I was the person responsible for drawing up the manifesto [for the upper house election]. It didn't mention at all the 10 percent [which Kan mentioned as the future consumption tax rate]," Takashima said.
Former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama also tried to deter the prime minister's expected tax move in a speech Thursday in Kumamoto. "I want the current Cabinet to honor my election promise" that the consumption tax rate will not be raised until after the next House of Representatives election, Hatoyama said. As DPJ members are divided into two groups over election tactics, some party members fear it might adversely affect the the party election campaign in the run-up to next week's poll.
