As storm clouds gather yet again over the ailing Japanese economy, campaigning started last week for an upper-house election on July 29th. This weekend's poll threatens to pit the Prime Minister, Mr Junichiro Koizumi, against his own party.
Leaders of the three-way coalition government, dominated by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), are confident they can win a majority in the 247-member chamber by gaining 63 seats.
Four short months ago most commentators would have scoffed at such an ambitious target. The LDP's share of the vote has declined over the last decade as Japan's economic mess has deepened, and voters were expected to punish it heavily for foisting the bumbling Mr Yoshio Mori on the country as prime minister.
Some commentators even predicted the beginning of the end for an organisation that has been in power almost continuously since 1955. But all this was before Mr Koizumi was swept to the leadership in a grassroots revolt in April that took even the LDP by surprise.
With approval ratings of over 80 per cent, few doubt that Mr Koizumi, who is mobbed like a rock star as he stumps the country, will help carry his administration back to office. His problems, however, may only be beginning.
The Prime Minister's popularity rests on his promise to rescue the country by challenging the ailing system that propelled Japan to the status of economic powerhouse. At the heart of that system is his party.
The LDP's traditional relationship with the electorate depended on its ability to continue delivering economic growth despite enormous political corruption, a Faustian pact that began to fray as soon as the economic bubble burst in the early 1990s.
Massive public spending on construction and farming subsidies have shored up support and kept the LDP ship afloat, but it has also battered the country's finances. And the party has avoided tackling banks saddled with enormous bad debts, a key reason for the country's economic malaise.
Mr Koizumi's mantra of "structural reform without compromise", including cutting government spending, cleaning up the banks and even political reform of the corrupt electoral system, is disliked by many of his colleagues. The suspicion is that the LDP will try to dump him once they have ridden the Koizumi wave back to power.
Mr Koizumi said in a speech earlier this month that he would "destroy the party" rather than see his reforms blocked.
If he manages to survive, the question is whether he can force the Japanese public to swallow his bitter medicine. The government's own estimates predict reforms such as Mr Koizumi's project to privatise the post office will cost 540,000 jobs. Pushing more banks to the wall and cutting spending just as another recession looms would add more to the dole queues.
Many have noted that Mr Koizumi has yet to actually carry out any reforms and has avoided talking specifics in the campaign so far.
The opposition leader, Mr Yukio Hatoyama, of the Democratic Party has found a chink in his armour by accusing him of hiding the pain of his plans from the public.
The chink may widen as the contradictions of Mr Koizumi's position become more evident during the election. Those looking for signs that he has the bottle to stand up to vested interests were not encouraged by television criticism accusing him of failing to stand up to the US over its withdrawal from the Kyoto accord.