The mood was grim Sunday at The New Otani Hotel, the Democratic Party of Japan's election base in Tokyo, as the reality set in that the ruling coalition had lost its majority in the Upper House.
In one of the hotel's large halls, nearly 400 seats had been prepared for domestic and international reporters, and dozens of TV cameras were lined up by the back wall. But the gathering clearly lacked the excitement that surrounded the party's historic general election win last summer, as gloomy DPJ executives took turns answering reporters' questions.