The was a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese political party which was in existence for a short period in early 1998. It was a centrist, reformist party that merged with other parties in April 1998 to form the Democratic Party of Japan

Democratic Party of Japan

The 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...

.

There was an earlier pre-war Minseitō party, the Rikken Minseitō

Rikken Minseito

was one of the main political parties in pre-war Empire of Japan. It was commonly known as the 'Minseitō'.The Minseitō was founded on 1 June 1927, by a merger of the Kenseikai and the Seiyu Hontō political parties. Its leadership included Osachi Hamaguchi, Wakatsuki Reijirō, Yamamoto Tatsuo, ...

 from which existed from 1927-1940.

History

The Good Governance Party was composed of several smaller reformist groups that had emerged during the collapse of the large coalition New Frontier Party

New Frontier Party

The was a Japanese political party that existed during the mid-1990s. As a merger of several small parties, the party was ideologically diverse, with its membership ranging from moderate socialists to neoliberals and conservatives...

 in 1996.
These groups were:

• The , led by Tsutomu Hata
  Tsutomu Hata
  is a Japanese politician and was the 80th Prime Minister of Japan for 9 weeks in 1994.He was born in Tokyo, a son of the Liberal Democratic Party Member of Parliament Bushiro Hata. Hata graduated from Seijo University and was employed by the Odakyu bus company from 1958 to 1969...
  
  ,
• The led by Michihiko Kano
• The group of independents known as , led by Morihiro Hosokawa
  Morihiro Hosokawa
  is a Japanese politician who was the 79th Prime Minister of Japan from August 9, 1993 to April 28, 1994. His coalition was the first non-Liberal Democratic Party government since 1955.- Early life :...
  
  .

Shortly after uniting on January 23, 1998, the Good Governance Party merged with the previous , the , and the to form the brand-new Democratic Party of Japan

Democratic Party of Japan

The 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...

. Hata, Kano and Hosokawa all played important roles in the development of the DPJ as the largest opposition party in Japan.