Thursday, April 30, 2009  Ozawa Digs in, Complicating the DPJ’s
Road to Victory  I had believed for some time that it was more
likely than not that Ichiro Ozawa would bow out gracefully
before the Lower House election. After all, the only DPJ Diet
members speaking up for him were his diehard followers. Even
faithful sidekick Yukio Hatoyama had been talking more like a
captain going down with his ship than one who intended to bring
it back to harbor. But I had forgotten what a contrarian Ozawa
had always been; he’s the little boy who’ll do exactly the
opposite of what you tell him to do. Now, the odds are surely
better than even that he’ll do his damndest to stay the course.
And what’s the reason for changing my mind? Because the DPJ put
off the public opinion poll that the media had led the public to
believe would—channeling Jason Todd—determine Ozawa’s fate.  The
poll had already been postponed before in the wake of the
indictment of Ozawa’s political aide in the Nishimatsu
scandal—reasonable under the circu