With Ozawa Ichiro’s decision to resign from the presidency of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and his subsequent reversal and agreement to stay on, Japanese politics has descended from drama to farce. The confusion and bumbling in the leading opposition party, on the heels of a landslide victory in Upper House elections, nullifies that dramatic step toward the reordering of Japanese politics, and hands the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its leader Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo a sensational gift.