Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The Democratic Party of Japan is a political party in Japan founded in 1998 by the merger of several opposition parties. Its socially liberal platform is generally considered center-left in the Japanese political spectrum. After the 2009 election the DPJ became the ruling party in the House of Representatives, defeating the long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party and gaining the largest number of seats in both the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors.