Japan's ruling party concedes defeat

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TOKYO, Aug 30(AP): Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso conceded defeat in elections Sunday as media exit polls indicated the opposition had won by a landslide, sending the conservatives out of power after 54 years of nearly unbroken rule amid widespread economic anxiety and desire for change.
"These results are very severe," Aso said in a news conference at party headquarters, conceding his party was headed for a big loss. "There has been a deep dissatisfaction with our party."
Aso said he would have to accept responsibility for the results, suggesting that he would resign as party president. Other LDP leaders also said they would step down, though official results were not to be released until early Monday morning.
The left-of-center Democratic Party of Japan was set to win 300 or more of the 480 seats in the lower house of parliament, ousting the Liberal Democrats, who have governed Japan for all but 11 months since 1955, according to exit polls by all major Japanese TV networks.
The loss by the Liberal Democrats - traditionally a pro-business, conservative party - would open the way for the Democratic Party, headed by Yukio Hatoyama, to replace Aso and establish a new Cabinet, possibly within the next few weeks.
The vote was seen as a barometer of frustrations over Japan's worst economic slump since World War II and a loss of confidence in the ruling Liberal Democrats' ability to tackle tough problems such as the rising national debt and rapidly aging population.

Meanwhile AFP adds, Yukio Hatoyama, Japan's next prime minister after Sunday's elections, believes his country should recalibrate its foreign policy to look less to the United States and more towards Asia.
A centre-left leader who has promised to shake up domestic politics after more than half a century of conservative rule, Hatoyama has also called for a "more equal" partnership with Washington, Tokyo's traditional ally.
In an article published by The New York Times last week, Hatoyama launched a spirited critique of US-style capitalism and "market fundamentalism", which he called "void of morals or moderation" and said harmed people's lives.
Not mincing his words, he predicted that "as a result of the failure of the Iraq war and the financial crisis, the era of US-led globalism is coming to an end and that we are moving toward an era of multi-polarity."
Hatoyama, head of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), stressed that "the Japan-US security pact will continue to be the cornerstone of Japanese diplomatic policy", as it has been since the end of World War II.
"But at the same time, we must not forget our identity as a nation located in Asia," he wrote. "I believe that the East Asian region, which is showing increasing vitality, must be recognised as Japan's basic sphere of being."
Hatoyama pointed to the fast rise of China, set to soon eclipse Japan as the world's number two economy, and called for the creation of an Asian community with a common currency based on the model of the European Union.
For now, he said, the US dollar remains the world currency, but he hinted at a looming decline of Washington's influence, saying "it will remain the world's leading military and economic power for the next two to three decades."
For observers in the United States, the article was an indication of the world view of Hatoyama, 62, whose DPJ won lower house elections in a landslide on Sunday, according to exit polls.
Under more than a half century of LDP rule, Japan kept close ties with the superpower that defeated it in World War II and has protected it since, now basing 47,000 troops in the country and providing a nuclear deterrence.
Despite trade disputes and friction about US bases on its soil, Japan largely emulated the US free market model as it rose from the ashes of war to become Asia's top economy, while keeping a low profile on the world stage.
Under former LDP premier Junichiro Koizumi, Tokyo's relations with Beijing badly deteriorated as he made repeated visits to a controversial war shrine, while its ties simultaneously strengthened with Washington.
Koizumi even sent non-combat troops to US President George W. Bush's war in Iraq, the first time post-World War II Japan deployed soldiers to a war zone.
For years in opposition, the DPJ -- which includes ruling party defectors and former socialists in its mixed ranks -- opposed Japan's joining "American wars" and called for a reduction of US bases on its territory.
The DPJ has also said it would not renew a naval mission that has supported the US-led war in Afghanistan when its current mandate expires next year.
But the party welcomed the election of President Barack Obama and pointed to similarities between their Democratic parties.
When the DPJ takes power, probably in about two weeks, observers say it is unlikely to quickly or radically shift foreign policy, despite the campaign-season rhetoric, opting instead for a pragmatic approach.