One feature of Nobuteru Ishihara's group is the number of second-generation politicians it contains.

ECONOMIST: Japan

But Mr Kato may soon use Nobuteru Ishihara's group to press his own case for being made prime minister.

ECONOMIST: Japan

Privileged and protected as they are, there is some doubt whether Nobuteru Ishihara and his like have the stomach for a real fight.

ECONOMIST: Japan

Three other candidates contested the leadership - Nobuteru Ishihara, son of Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, Nobutaka Machimura, the former foreign minister, and Yoshimasa Hayashi, another former defence minister.

BBC: Japan ex-PM Shinzo Abe elected opposition leader

The party intends to field about 300 candidates and may win 30-70 seats. (Mr Hashimoto himself will not run this time, saying he wants to sort out Osaka first.) Probably the LDP will win a plurality of seats, and its next leader, perhaps Nobuteru Ishihara, will hope to bring the JRA into a coalition.

ECONOMIST: And the mainstream parties would do well to heed it