Too soon to assume Ozawa will have to resign

"I don't think you can draw that conclusion yet," said Gerry Curtis, an expert in Japanese politics at Columbia University.

"I still find it hard to believe that a scandal, after years in which scandals have been so common, will make people say they will stick with a party and a prime minister."

Curtis also states that he believes that it will help the LDP, but will not alter the outcome.

If an agnostic can pray, I pray that he's right, especially about the ultimate outcome. It was easy to say that there wasn't much difference between the two parties until having to face the possibility of the LDP staying in power and thus ruling out any real change (I hate to use that now over-used word) for another 1,000 years.

(In my informal chats with my "focus groups---and individuals" eligible to vote, I have found a lot of disappointment. To a person, they have been suspicious about the timing or else will flatly state that the LDP is behind it. Most also believe that what Ozawa's secretary has been accused of is pretty much common practice among politicians. A least that's what my rather rag-tag group of interviewees---very carefully selected because I know them---believe.)