Ozawa remains tight-lipped about running in DPJ leadership race

TOKYO, Aug. 25 Kyodo -
Ichiro Ozawa, one of the most powerful figures in the Democratic Party of
Japan, remained evasive Wednesday regarding whether he will challenge Prime
Minister Naoto Kan in the ruling party's leadership election next month.
Ozawa said at a political seminar he organized in Tokyo that it was not the
right place to ''talk about juicy political matters'' in recent days.
During talks with Kan's predecessor, Yukio Hatoyama, on Tuesday night, Ozawa
said he would decide whether to run in the Sept. 14 election as early as
Wednesday, according to former Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano, who
attended the meeting.
Ozawa, who held the party's No. 2 post of secretary general until June, has
been critical of the way Kan has been running the government.
DPJ lawmakers who have close ties with Ozawa and share his negative assessment
of the current leadership are hoping the party powerbroker, often touted as
Japan's ''shadow shogun,'' will make a bid to oust Kan as DPJ president and
prime minister.
Ozawa is expected to meet with Hatoyama again soon to clarify whether he will
file for candidacy.
But it is becoming difficult for Ozawa to run as an increasing number of DPJ
lawmakers have thrown their support behind Kan in recent days.
During the meeting on Tuesday, Hatoyama, who leads an intraparty group of about
50 lawmakers, also told Ozawa that he would back Kan's reelection as DPJ
leader.
Senior DPJ lawmakers close to Hatoyama have also agreed to refrain from seeking
Ozawa's candidacy and conveyed their views on Wednesday to DPJ Vice President
Kenji Yamaoka, who backs Ozawa in the election, they said.
Yamaoka formally requested Ozawa to run in the election in the evening on
behalf of other DPJ lawmakers supportive of him.
''I was very thrilled at the nomination,'' Ozawa said.
But Ozawa, who heads the largest intraparty group, avoided giving a prompt
reply to the request, telling Yamaoka, ''Please give me a bit of time.''
Meanwhile, Hatoyama, who has been acting as a mediator between the Kan and
Ozawa sides, visited the prime minister on Wednesday to exchange views on how
to run the ruling party.
Hatoyama said he told Kan that it would be important to strengthen unity among
DPJ lawmakers and make efforts toward forming closer ties with Ozawa and his
supporters.
But Hatoyama told reporters that the two did not reach a conclusion regarding
the presidential election during the meeting at the premier's office.
Speaking to reporters, Kan said he is hoping to hold talks again with Hatoyama
after he comes back from a four-day visit to Russia from Thursday.
Kan's government was formed on June 8 after Hatoyama stepped down only around
eight months after taking office, due to a sharp fall in public support
triggered by his failure to resolve a dispute over the relocation of a U.S.
military base in Okinawa and a money scandal.
Ozawa, who has been embroiled in his own political funds scandal, stepped down
from the party's No.2 post at the same time.
The DPJ plans to register candidates for the presidential election on Sept. 1.
During the seminar on Wednesday, Ozawa expressed a sense of crisis about the
course of the Japanese economy, saying the ongoing sharp appreciation of the
yen is a ''big blow'' to the economy that is ''completely dependent on external
demand.''
''There is no doubt that (the yen's appreciation) will lead to an opaque and
unstable situation,'' he said.
==Kyodo