Rarely has the old cliche about a week being a long time in politics been more appropriate. In the space of seven days, the Democratic Party of Japan's president has gone from being a near certainty for prime minister after the next general election to the subject of speculation over whether a man who has a habit of causing his political parties to implode is fit for top office.
The DPJ will still put up a good fight against the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LPD) when Japan votes, which some are predicting could happen as early as April, but that is despite Ichiro Ozawa, 65, rather than thanks to him.
On Wednesday, Mr Ozawa held talks with members of the party and reversed his announcement on Sunday that he would resign from the leadership and return to the back benches. That decision came after he held secret discussions with the LDP to form a 'grand coalition' to run the country, which DPJ members vetoed as soon as it was revealed to them on Friday last week.
As part of the plan, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda had agreed to appoint Mr Ozawa deputy prime minister and the DPJ would have had six of the 18 cabinet seats.
But with the LDP wrestling with declining public support, Mr Fukuda trying to put the brief, disastrous tenure of prime minister Shinzo Abe behind him and calling the shots in the Diet, why did Mr Ozawa not simply bide his time and wait for power to inevitably come to him?
'He explained that the DPJ needed experience in running ministries and the government, but I don't think anyone really believes that was a valid reason for holding secret talks with your main political opponents about an alliance,' said Makoto Watanabe, a lecturer in media and politics at Hokkaido University.