630 members of Japan’s ruling party headed to China this week

The Democratic Party of Japan apparently doesn’t travel light. Mainichi Shimbun reports: Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Secretary-General Ichiro Ozawa won’t be lonely when he heads to China and South Korea on Thursday, as he’s taking an entourage of about 630 people with him. The group, including DPJ supporters and 143 fellow DPJ Diet members, ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.
575731_091209_ozawa2.jpg
575731_091209_ozawa2.jpg
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) acting leader Ichiro Ozawa answers questions at the party's election campaign headquarters in Tokyo on August 30, 2009. The DPJ, led by Yukio Hatoyama is set to romp to a landslide win, taking more than 300 seats in the 480-seat lower house of parliament, national media polls have predicted. AFP PHOTO / TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA (Photo credit should read TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images)

The Democratic Party of Japan apparently doesn't travel light. Mainichi Shimbun reports:

The Democratic Party of Japan apparently doesn’t travel light. Mainichi Shimbun reports:

Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Secretary-General Ichiro Ozawa won’t be lonely when he heads to China and South Korea on Thursday, as he’s taking an entourage of about 630 people with him.

The group, including DPJ supporters and 143 fellow DPJ Diet members, will accompany Ozawa while he’s in China to meet with President Hu Jintao. Ozawa will continue on to South Korea alone for a dinner meeting with President Lee Myung-bak on Friday, but overall the trip looks to solidify the impression of Japan’s regime change both in and outside the country, as well as emphasize Ozawa’s political power.

143 Diet members is about a third of the party’s entire delegation. Imagine 100 Democratic members of congress all going on one foreign trip. Ozawa apparently also hopes to discuss an exchange program between the DPJ and the Chinese Communist Party during the visit. 

The DPJ came into power promising a closer relationship with China and a Japanese foreign policy that was more oriented toward the country’s Asian neighbors. Ozawa’s mega-junket certainly seems like a pretty big statement to that end. 

TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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