The prospect of a crushing defeat in Japan's elections this Sunday has left some grandees from the incumbent Liberal Democratic party feeling a little vulnerable.
Gone are the heady days when they could afford to roam the country speaking on behalf of younger candidates or spend long, emotionally draining evenings in expensive ryotei horse-trading over the formation of the next cabinet.
Rumour has it that in recent days some, including the former prime minister Yoshiro Mori, have even been witnessed talking to their constituents.
Mori, a 13-time winner in his rural Ishikawa prefecture constituency, has decided to stay among his people as polling day approaches, lest his fiefdom fall into the hands of rival party the DPJ.
Mori's opponent is Mieko Tanaka – a 33-year-old former travel agent and member of the "princess corps" dispatched by the DPJ to marginal constituencies – who cycles around the constituency in a pink polo shirt.
It would be hard to think of an LDP politician who better personifies the complacency of the ruling party than Mori, who as prime minister elected to finish his round of golf after being informed of the Ehime Maru fishing boat tragedy.
His equally thoughtful verdict on Tanaka: "She was picked only because she is young and has a nice body."
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