政権選択を最大の焦点とした第４５回衆院選は３０日投票が行われ、即日開票の結果、民主党が過半数（２４１）を上回り、３０８を議席を獲得して政権奪取を果たすことになった。

　自民党は結党以来初めて第２党に転落、麻生太郎首相は３０日夜、党総裁を辞任することを表明した。

　非自民政権の発足は細川政権以来、１６年ぶり。衆院選で野党第１党が単独過半数を得ての政権交代は現憲法下では初めてで、日本の政治は大きな転換点を迎えた。民主党の鳩山由紀夫代表はただちに政権移行の準備に着手し、社民、国民新両党と連立に向けた政策協議を行う。鳩山氏を首相とする新政権は９月中旬に誕生する。

Allow me to translate:
The 45th lower house election, the largest focal point of the political elections, has occurred on the 30th. The election results: Democratic party of Japan has now surpassed the majority required seats (241), to a 308 seats total, and have taken complete political power. The liberal democrats have suffered their second defeat since the creation of the party. Prime Minister Aso has announced at the evening of the 30th that he will resign as the leader of the liberal democrats. This is the first time since 16 years that a single non-Liberal Democratic parties have taken a majority in the lower house. Japan's politics has now reached a turning point. DPJ's Hatoyama is now preparing for the turning over of political power, and is now discussing policy details with allied parties. Hatoyama will become the new prime minister and a new government will be created in the middle of September.

If you can read japanese, here're some links:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/election/
http://www2.asahi.com/senkyo2009/

If you can't, allow me to elaborate:

DPJ and other reformers wins huge in the lower house.
140 - Liberal Democrats and allies <- The old guard
319 - Democratic Party of Japan and allies <- the reformers
20 - Communists and allies


yah... if you haven't figured it out by now, I'm pro dpj.

Maybe now, we can finally kick the US out of okinawa, and forge closer ties with the rest of Asia.

Japan, China and Korea will finally be able to integrate to form an united political entity whose influence will shake the globe.

^ woah.. political a little too fast.. cuz we're all on different stages of development. some sort of economic entity tho would definitely be something to look forward to.

I expect East Asia to form something such as the BRIC which has a voice on international matters, although weakly integrated economically.

errr... The exact opposite will happen. The economies will be integrated very strongly. However, politically it'll be a relatively weak union. It'll be something like the EU. It won't be just East asia either. It'll be all of east asia, southeast asia, Australia and NZ, and possibly Russia (basically all the players in the East Asia Summits).

At best, any such union is tampered by an emphasis on equilibrium with considerations on respecting each other's full national sovereignty (hard power) and distinct culture identity (soft power). Probably more like a glorified "Asianized" version of the Westphalia Treaty in 1600's Europe, rather than resembling the EU.

Remember, calculated pragmatism guides the majority of alot of Asian governments in political thought. And in this, full economic integration is not necessarily viewed as a worthwhile goal due to whatever effects might happen in the global economic system. The crisis that we now see further brings home that point. Not to mention that in this pragmatic view, recognition of distinct cultural differences plays a huge part, unlike Western politics which tries rather heavy handedly to play it down.

To further elaborate on a particular point in your post, while Russia might probably be seen as an active partner in cooperation with Asian states in the future (due to its current alienation from the West over its regional tiffs with the US and EU), I might not sure that apart from some economic incentives, many Asian governments are looking keen for a full fledged economic integration with the likes of Australia and New Zealand.

Because in contrast to the current Western emphasis, cultural differentation (soft power) is taken into account in policy making. The fact as well that in many circles of thought, political, economic, social or cultural and of course historical within Asia (look at the Asia Times for example), Australia and NZ are still seen as colonial outposts for Anglo hegemony in the region. As such the seeking of integration by Asian nations with states like these may not be looked upon with enthusiasm or even desired at all.

Unless of course, in the event scenario, when NZ were to become a sovereign Maori state, then perhaps the tables would turn to greater cooperation with Asia.

Frankly, IMO the EU is not a verry effective way to integrate states and I have done the research myself, and conclude that it's mode of integration especially its economic integration endeavour, is setting Europe up for some very unforseen consequences...which won't look very favourable or nice in its outcome for that continent itself. But that's another discussion.