Is it true that there's no Japanese Prime Minister right now?
My kids just told me Abe isn't the PM right now because the gov't has dissolved for elections. Wha-ah-ah? Does it work like that? They also seem to think there's a very good chance that the LDP won't select Abe to lead the party (and therefore be PM) after the elections.
This seems to run completely counter to all the implied stuff I see in the English-language foreign press . . . . They seem to assume if the LDP is in, Abe will keep on with the Abenomics, the re-arming, the eroding of the constitution . . . .
(My kids are taking social studies classes in Japanese schools, and they were very sure they were right. I'm not sure why I'm checking in with you guys, but I would like to have it confirmed/denied, and I'd like to hear your opinions about the process.)
Update: The kids both say there is no PM right now, and even their grandmother is siding with them. So . . . either the Japanese school system has been broken for decades, or they are ganging up with me.
They are getting frustrated that I am questioning this. They said, "if you google it instead of asking on Yahoo! Answers, you'll actually get an answer." Hmmmm.
*ganging up ON me.
Article 54. When the House of Representatives is dissolved, there must be a general election of members of the House of Representatives within forty (40) days from the date of dissolution, and the Diet must be convoked within thirty (30) days from the date of the election.
MM: The logic is compelling. The parliament is dissolved, the PM is a member of Parliament, therefore, if he's not a member of parliament, how can he be PM? Can't find any bald statement of this, though.