mieko: opposition parties are split.osition parties who are gaining steam because of this funding scandal. however, they are still too weak to take over the ldp, unless the people started to have a huge rage. if they got so much anger and think of punishing the ldp for a while, then there may be some kind of possibilities. but those parties are not very proactive. they are reactive depending on how the tokyo prosecutors are finding facts and how ldp members are reacting to this scandal. but please remember, this scandal is really based on the abe faction, not the kishida faction. as long as tokyo prosecutors are focusing on other factions, kishida has some room to maneuver. so we will see how we can handle it, well or not. shery: how is the japanese public taking all of these political scandals? not just that but the broader state of the economy. i talked to all of my friends in japan and they seem very downbeat about the japanese economy. they are calling the yen trash at this point. mieko: exactly. inflation is kicking