Opposition parties acknowledge defeat in Japan's upper house election

Suffering heavy losses in the upper house election Sunday, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan lost its mantle as the country's major opposition party, though other parties also struggled against the ruling Liberal Democratic Party."I take it that voters did not want to switch from the LDP and entrust us with running the government," said leader Kenta Izumi, as his party looked set to win fewer than 23 contested seats.In an acknowledgement of how difficult it is to dislodge the LDP, Izumi noted, "The situation of the opposition parties has changed considerably" since the last elect…READ FULL ARTICLE