Late last year, the New Frontier Party, led by Ozawa Ichiro, split six ways because of internal disagreements.
In the early 1990s, Takeshita shared his behind-the-scenes influence with two other shadow shoguns, former vice premier Kanemaru Shin and Ozawa Ichiro.
Opposition leader Mr. Ozawa Ichiro may have lots of ideas for reforming Japan, but he has turned out to be a flop as political tactician.
The top two contenders are expected to be the LDP (206 seats before dissolution) and the opposition New Frontier Party (163 seats), a conservative group headed by LDP renegade Ozawa Ichiro.
DPJ's leader, Ichiro Ozawa, says the upper house will block the extension.
Japanese political kingpin Ichiro Ozawa unveiled a new party, pledging to overturn Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's bill to double the nation's sales tax.
His chief foe within the party is Ichiro Ozawa, who has cast a longer political shadow over the past two decades than anyone.
Yukio Hatoyama, the prime minister, and his most influential backer, Ichiro Ozawa, have since been caught up in election-funding scandals that have shredded the government's credibility.
The latest set of economic reports come just a day after Ichiro Ozawa announced that he would run against Kan for leadership of the Democratic Party on Sept. 14.
That signalled to the politician's followers that they should cast their run-off vote for Mr Noda, rather than the puppet candidate of Ichiro Ozawa, the party's indicted (and suspended) kingpin.
Reports in Japan say Ichiro Ozawa, who leads the biggest faction despite the suspension of his party membership over a political funding scandal, is unlikely to support the former foreign minister.
BBC: Japan PM Naoto Kan announces resignation amid criticism
Mr Fujii, say people who have spoken to him, was fed up with the power wielded over Mr Hatoyama by Ichiro Ozawa, secretary-general of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).
The opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), led by Ichiro Ozawa, controls the Diet's upper house and vows to oppose the LDP's measures, raising the odds of a poll in early November.
ECONOMIST: Aso steps up to the plate; but perhaps not to stay very long
Most expect him, reluctantly, to accept the overtures from conservatives within Ichiro Ozawa's New Frontier Party, the largest of the opposition groups and the most enthusiastic about a bigger security role for Japan.
While hardly the closest of bed-fellows, Mr Kan and Ichiro Ozawa, the head-strong boss of the Liberal Party, have now agreed to combine forces in a bid to oust Mr Obuchi before February.
LDP's right wing to split off and form an alliance with Ichiro Ozawa, who was once a political heavyweight in the ruling party but now leads a dwindling band of conservatives in the opposition.
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