Japan opposition leader 'to stay'

Ichiro Ozawa, the leader of Japan's main opposition party, has withdrawn his resignation at the request of his colleagues, officials have said.

Mr Ozawa had said he would resign as head of the Democratic Party of Japan after it vetoed a power-sharing offer with the ruling coalition.

The government offered the plan to push through laws renewing Japan's mandate for a US-led mission in Afghanistan.

This is the latest of a series of crises to hit Japanese politics.

'One more go'

The two main parties are currently deadlocked over whether to carry on supporting the Afghan mission by refuelling warships in the Indian Ocean.

The mandate for their support operations ran out on 1 November.

"Mr Ozawa said he wants to work again as party leader after seeing the requests from members who want him to stay on"
Yukio Hatoyama
Democratic Party boss

The government wants to continue, but the opposition - which controls the upper house of parliament - has made clear it intends to block the move.

Disagreement over the issue was one of the main reasons which led Shinzo Abe to resign from his post as prime minister in September.

New Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda proposed a power-sharing deal in an attempt to overcome the difficulties.

Mr Ozawa backed the deal, but the DPJ rejected it - prompting him to offer his resignation on Sunday.

He agreed to retract his decision to resign after meeting party officials on Tuesday.

The DPJ's secretary general, Yukio Hatoyama, said: "Mr Ozawa said he wants to work again as party leader after seeing the requests from members who want him to stay on."

He said that Mr Ozawa felt as though he had made "an embarrassment" of himself, but was willing to "give it one more go".

Analysts say wrangling among party leaders over the past few days has dented the party's image in Japan, and damaged their prospects for the next general election.