Noda throws Ishiba a lifeline

key takeaways

• The Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP) has offered a set of proposals to revise the government’s draft budget, laying the basis for negotiations with the ruling parties that could ensure the budget’s passage before the end of the fiscal year.
• CDP leader Noda Yoshihiko has wagered that his party can benefit from being seen as responsible even as it contends with the Democratic Party for the People’s “technocratic populism.”