There is no end to surprises in Japanese politics. As business usual, this time, Inchiro Ozawa, leader of the strong opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), known as Minshuto in Japanese, bows out. Many predicted that he was the next for the highest executive slot in the country. However, 'facts surrounding Ozawa's fall remain murky', as put by Michael Penn, Executive Director of the Kita-Kyushu-based Shingetsu Institute. Accusations against Ozawa were 'standard charges' i.e., party fund-raising, happening in Japan so long. Ozawa's aide was accused of accepting bribe amounting to US$358,000 from the Nishimatsu Construction Company, a second-tier general contractor, couple of months (March). This made serious doubts about Ozawa's 'bribery' case. The so-called information-base public in Japan could be easily misguided as there are powerful lobbies working against or in favour of an upcoming candidate. These lobbies have ridiculed leading political personalities. Commonly, they upset the incumbent prime minister, but this time they, surprisingly 'bribed' the opposition leader. Surprisingly, not in public but Nishimatsu has decided the fate of Ozawa in the upcoming elections. Domestic lobbies should refrain from such wrong-doings but they normally disable leading leaders influencing international politics by branding and banning then as corrupt politicians. One should ask: if Japanese politicians were so corrupt for their people, how did they make Japan economically so powerful - second only to the United States. Unlike the West or India, Japanese so-called political scandals destroy top leadership so often. Politics must have grown up in Asia's oldest democracy and there should be an end to the 'briefcase politics' and 'corporate politics'. Although Ozawa's era is over, he would be remembered as the strongest opposition leader in Japanese politics, a leader who painted the other view on the coin, and sometime, with much vigour, than the government. People rallied on him as leader to ensure transparency and good governance. On the foreign policy side, US-Japan alliance was made responsible and he stressed upon an independent foreign policy. His foreign policy postures were thrilling. Ozawa believed that the Bush administration started wars in Afghanistan and in Iraq without any international consensus. He was the staunch opponent of the so-called Japanese policy in support of the US-led War on Terror. He endorsed the UN-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) action in Afghanistan but again he stressed upon reconstruction and not guns and bullets to solve the issue of terrorism in that country. Several times, since 9/11, Minshuto blocked the legislation by not allowing Japan to work on the law to permit the government to implement the non-combat military operation in favour of the United States. Ozawa called for a more assertive foreign policy less dependent upon the United States. On these issues, during the course of time, Ozawa gained tremendous popularity in Japan and snatched majority in the Upper House (House of Councillors) of the Diet in July 2007 elections. As his popularity was leading him toward success in the Lower House (House of Representatives) upcoming elections in September, he was suddenly declared 'corrupt'. In a country where economy is over US$4 trillion, why Ozawa accepts a tiny amount of US$358,000 instead of snatching the office of powerful premiership? Elected three years ago as President Minshuto, Ozawa's growing popularity led the ruling Liberal-Democratic Party (LDP), Jiminto in Japanese, to change its prime ministers three times in less than two years after powerful LDP Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi ended his tenure of the party in 2006. Pressure from Ozawa led LDP to continuously reshuffle the House composition several times such as the bringing of Shinzo Abe and Yasuo Fukuda, and the incumbent Prime Minister Taro Aso. Ozawa appeared more popular than Aso. Announcing his resignation on May 11 at a press conference, Ozawa was, however, confident of his party's success in the forthcoming elections. He said: "By burning my own bridges, I am making absolutely sure that my party will triumph." The investigation into the scandal weakened the ranks and files of Minshuto. There would be lesser voices against the issue of the War on Terror and Japanese financial contribution in the shape of oil and fresh waters for the US-led NATO operation against the pirates in the Indian Ocean. Minshuto, under Ozawa, was the balancer of the operation. Ozawa's quit missed out the Obama-like change which was about to take place in Japan. Ozawa was the main strategist and an imperious leader for Minshuto. The party was framed only some 13 years ago in 1998 with main support that came from the blue-collar workers. Minshuto is both revolutionary and reformer challenging the status quo. Instead of bureaucratic control over the government, Ozawa wanted that politicians should lead the system rather the other way round with basic policy set out by elected politicians. While criticising deregulation and free-market approach, the party believed that the real gap in workers' income and economy has much widened, making richer much richer and poor more poorer. Minshuto tried to decrease this gap. Ozawa joined the party in 2003. Rising to the level of a massively popular party and gaining a top status at the Diet is not less than a wonder for a party system which was entirely dominated by the traditional dominated ruling clique and party Jiminto since 1955. Ozawa in his book Blueprint For A New Japan, called for political reform, to introduce a change in country's pacifist constitution, and to weaken the traditional power base of the ruling LDP clique. He performed marvellously on these issues particularly after the stepping down of Koizumi. Ozawa made a great stride over the last three years toward crushing the so-called 'de-facto one-party Jiminto state'. In a thrilling move in April, Minshuto declared that the party would ban family members from inheriting parliamentary seats, a continuing tradition in the ruling Jiminto. Ozawa always appeared as a challenger and harbinger of a new party system. Being the chief secretary of the Jiminto in the past, Ozawa knows the art of tackling factional-ridden Japanese party politics. Elected first to the Diet in 1969, Ozawa was the great supporter of Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, who made a historic decision to open dialogue with the Peoples' Republic of China. Ozawa got a tilt toward Asia. Alongwith Tsutomu Hata and Ryutaro Hashimoto, both elected as prime ministers in the 1980s, Ozawa appeared a popular Diet member. His earlier efforts, along with Hata, to form the Japan Renewal Party, (JRP or Shinseito) greatly challenged 38-year uninterrupted LDP rule during 1993-4. He also played a key role in bringing Japan New Party (JNP or Nihon Shinto) under the leadership of Morihiro Hosokawa, who took the office of prime minister in 1993. The lining up of Yukio Hatoyama and Katsuya Okada, both former Minshuto presidents, Seiji Maehara, and Naoto Kan, senior party member, would see how much they control the damage inflicted upon Ozawa's so-called money bribe scandal and fill the leadership gap after the exit of Ozawa as opposition leader. Although Japanese democracy is the oldest in Asia, it is a highly scandal-ridden party politics, heavily funded by wealthy private corporations. Nevertheless, Ozawa's inputs gave a new vigour to Japanese politics and built a new hope for the emerging democracies across Asia where opposition could hope to play a decisive role instead of becoming backroom fixer for the ruling clique. The writer is a research fellow (East Asia) at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI)