When the Liberal Democratic party turned in desperation to Yasuo Fukuda after the resignation of Shinzo Abe last September, there were those who dismissed the then 71-year-old leader as a stop-gap. Less than a year later, they have been proved right.

Mr Fukuda was an able, if uncharismatic, politician. But he was unable to make anything of the thin political deck he inherited: namely a parliament whose upper house was controlled by an opposition intent on sabotage. That meant Mr Fukuda expended his political capital on trying to get through parliament what should have been straightforward bills.