Web extra: Change of guard expected in Japan´s parliamentary elections (long version: 12 minutes, 22 seconds)

Japan is holding parliamentary elections this Sunday. Prime Minister Taro Aso is running for re-election; his party, the Liberal Democratic Party has ruled the country for the past 50 years through coalitions or outright majorities in parliament.

But the Liberal Democratic Party or LDP, is likely to lose its grip on power  to the Democratic Party of Japan, a center-left group that´s set to win a substantial majority of the seats in the powerful lower house of the Japanese legislature. Japan is slowly recovering from a recession and both parties have different ideas on how to generate more employment and how to restart the country´s once powerful economy.

Analysts say that economic policies aside, the Democratic Party of Japan´s likely takeover is a significant development in Japanese history after half a century of LDP rule.  FSRN spoke to Professor Jeff Kingston, the director of Asian Studies at Temple University Japan.