[Photo] The Aoi Festival in Kyoto

On June 1, 2011, the LDP and NEW KOMEITO parties submitted a no-confidence motion against the Kan Cabinet to the Lower House. More than seventy members of the DPJ who chiefly belonged to the Ozawa group, with complaints about Prime Minister Naoto Kan, showed their will to agree with the motion. If eighty-two members of the DPJ agree, the no-confidence motion will be passed, throwing the DPJ into confusion.

On June 2, before the vote, a meeting among the Lower House members of the DPJ was held, where Prime Minister Naoto Kan stated his resignation plan after the reconstruction from the disaster advances to a certain level.

However, before the Lower House meeting, Mr. Hatoyama had negotiated with Mr. Kan and he had promised to resign in the near future.

For this reason, those who had expressed agreement to the no-confidence motion changed their mind, and as a result, the motion was rejected.

However, on June 3, Mr. Kan insisted that he will continue as Prime Minister until the Fukushima nuclear power plant cooling system stabilizes, which means Mr. Kan had no intention to resign in the near future.

Mr. Hatoyama was surprised and angered to hear that and said Mr. Kan is "like a swindler". The Ozawa group members also expected Mr. Kan's resignation by June 30.

The reason for which the no-confidence motion was rejected was that most of the DPJ members wanted to avoid the dissolution of the House of Representatives.

Since the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, the LDP and NEW KOMEITO have cooperated with the Kan Cabinet as much as possible, but the action taken by the Kan Cabinet has been very slow and confusing to people, especially in terms of the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident.

Mr. Kan definitely lacks the quality of a Prime Minister. The opposition party have to say what they think is right, and that is why we submitted a no-confidence motion against the Kan Cabinet to the Diet.