The Japan Renewal Party (also JRP)(新生党, Shinseitō) was a Japanese political party that existed in the early 1990s. It was founded in 1993 by 44 members of the Liberal Democratic Party led by Tsutomu Hata and Ichiro Ozawa. It was instrumental in ending the LDP's 38 year dominance of Japanese politics. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), also known as Jiyū Minshutō (自由民主党, more often abbreviated to Jimin-tō 自民党) is the largest Japanese political party as of 2004. ... Tsutomu Hata (羽田 孜 Hata Tsutomu, b. ... Ichiro Ozawa (小沢一郎, Ozawa Ichirō, 1942 - ) is a Japanese politician, formerly the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party and later of the Japan Liberal Party. ...

Both reformers, Hata and Ozawa had been involved in a difficult leadership struggle within the former Takeshita faction of the LDP. Their opponents, led by Keizo Obuchi and Ryutaro Hashimoto, were using the fallout of the Sagawa Kyubin scandal as a tool to undermine the reformist position. Hata and Ozawa split from the party partly to shift media attention away from the scandal. In doing so, they transformed an internal party dispute to a wide-ranging conflict that led to a decade of shifting allegiances and short-lived parties. Noboru Takeshita (竹下 登 Takeshita Noboru February 26, 1924–June 19, 2000) was a Japanese politician and the 74th Prime Minister of Japan from November 6, 1987 to June 3, 1989. ... Keizo Obuchi (小渕恵三; Obuchi Keizō June 25, 1937–May 14, 2000) was a Japanese politician and the 84th Prime Minister of Japan from July 30, 1998 to April 5, 2000. ... Ryūtarō Hashimoto (橋本龍太郎 Hashimoto Ryūtarō, Born July 29, 1937) is a Japanese politician and was the 82nd and 83rd Prime Minister of Japan from January 11, 1996 to July 30, 1998. ...

In the elections immediately following the split, the JRP won 55 seats, making it one of the most powerful opposition parties. Most importantly, the party drew off support crucial to the LDP. While several other small parties had split from the LDP, Hata and Ozawa's group was the largest, and was widely considered to have finally broken the back of LDP dominance.

Known for his political organisational skills, Ozawa organised a five-party coalition of the JRP, the Japan Socialist Party, the Democratic Socialist Party, Clean Government Party and the United Social Democratic Party. This coalition held 237 seats in the Diet, and after convincing the Japan New Party and the New Party Sakigake to join, was able to form a government under Morihiro Hosokawa. The Japan Socialist Party (日本社会党) (in Japanese Nihon Shakai-to) was a former Japanese political party with a socialist, left-wing ideology, which functioned between 1945 and 1996. ... Democratic Socialist Party (originally Minshu Shakai-to (民主社会党), later simply Minsha-to(民社党)) was a former democratic socialist party that existed in Japan. ... The Clean Government Party (明党) or CGP, -- known in Japanese as Komeito was a former plitical party in Japan. ... The National Diet of Japan (国会; Kokkai) is Japans legislature. ... The New Party Sakigake (新党さきがけ Shinto Sakigake) was a Japanese political party that broke away from the Liberal Democratic Party on June 22, 1993. ... Morihiro Hosokawa (細川 護煕 Hosokawa Morihiro, b. ...

As the impetus for the collapse of LDP power, the JRP was able to exert great power in the coalition. While some concessions to other parties were made, the JRP was perhaps overly dominant, eventually forcing some other members out of the coalition through its heavyhanded style. In 1994 the JRP merged into the New Frontier Party. The Shinshinto (新進党, New Frontier Party) was a former Japanese political party. ...