Democratic Party of Japan

The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ; 民主党 Minshutou) is a political party formed in 1998 through the merger of Japanese parties in opposition to the governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), including former members of the LDP. It won the 2009 Japanese general election and formed a coalition government with the People's New Party and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) headed by DPJ leader Yukio Hatoyama; this broke 55 years of near-continuous government by the LDP.

The DPJ's alliance with the SDP lasted less than a year due to disagreement over the relocation of a U.S. Military base in Okinawa. The DPJ and SDP had been elected on a pledge to renegotiate a deal to relocate a United States Forces Japan base on the Okinawa Island; moves to situate the base away from the island or outside Japan altogether proved unsuccessful, to the consternation of many local people.