The last time Japan's ruling coalition of Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito lost the majority in the Tokyo assembly was in July 2009. Following the loss, then not-so-popular Japanese prime minister Taro Aso dissolved the lower house and called a general election, in which the opposition Democratic Party won a landslide victory and ended the LDP's half-century rule in Japan.

History may not repeat itself always. It does offer lessons, however. The Tokyo assembly election has for decades been seen as a bellwether of Japan's general election. On July 2, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike's fledging party Tomin First no Kai (Tokyoties First party) and its allies won 79 seats in the 127-member city assembly, bringing the LDP's majority to an end. The LDP's seat share dropped from 57 to 23 - the lowest ever.

On the surface, the assembly election was a referendum on Koike, who was elected the city's first female governor last year. But many view the poor showing of the LDP as a rebuke to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his administration.