Ichiro Ozawa's personal desire to finally become Japan's leader has distracted the nation's leaders from the vital debate that the nation needs to have to resurrect its economy, and the longer such a debate is put off, the more likely it is that another reckoning will come.

The United States cannot afford to ignore Japan--especially this year.

Political scandals surrounding the Democratic Party of Japan [DPJ], and its inability to deliver on campaign promises, could bring an abrupt end to the new era of hope and change the DPJ promised to bring about.

Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan has done the political equivalent of committing ritual suicide to atone for the sins of being a failure. Japan now has a dead prime minister walking, the fifth in as many years. Does any of this matter? It's getting harder for Japan specialists to assert that it does.

If another generation experiences economic stagnation, Japan's otherwise stable democracy could be put to a test.

Whether Ichiro Ozawa's fundraising foibles will doom his party's chances to reshape Japan's political map remains to be seen.

The country needs a radical reformer more than ever, but the chances of one emerging are mixed. It is the same faces that are struggling for power, while the public loses confidence in any of Japan's elected officials.

The Japanese military is emerging from decades of pacifism. But do the country's political leaders have the vision and the will to make the country strong again?