As an outsider who relishes flouting convention, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is an unlikely candidate for making a lasting imprint on tradition-bound Japan.
Branded a "weirdo" when he was elected three years ago today, Koizumi wasted little time before he started snubbing political power brokers and ignoring party traditions, like divvying up Cabinet posts among veteran lawmakers.
PHOTO: AFP
Most wouldn't have gotten away with it. But by skillfully exploiting voter frustration with the status quo, Koizumi has managed to build one of Japan's longest-lasting and strongest governments in years. And he's also succeeded in changing his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) -- not to mention Japan -- in ways few expected possible.
Today, Koizumi will mark the end of his third year as prime minister, a milestone only five of Japan's 26 postwar premiers have achieved before him.
"His ability to stay in power owes much to his political skill, to his ability to pilot his party," said Ikuo Kabashima, a professor of political science at Tokyo University.
"He's whipped up public support by vilifying the mainstream of his party. It would seem anyone could do this, but most LDP lawmakers can't," Kabashima said.
Some of the most dramatic changes wrought by Koizumi have been ones that appear to have dragged Japan perceptibly to the right. Take Japan's logistical support for US-led troops in the Indian Ocean as the coalition fights in Afghanistan. Or the dispatch of noncombat soldiers to Iraq.
Both measures broke new ground for Japan's military, which has been severely restricted by a public skeptical of military might and a pacifist constitution drafted by US occupiers after Japan's defeat in World War II.
"He's a different type of character -- for better or for worse -- and this has enabled him to implement such policies,'' said Masato Ushio, an assistant professor at Seigakuin University.
While not necessarily a major hawk himself, Koizumi's appointment of a conservative defense minister has given these measures momentum, Ushio said. The importance of close ties with the US to Koizumi has also helped this process, he said.
Other significant changes have been more subtle.
He's consolidated more decision-making under his office, partially neutralizing the special-interest politicians who have long dominated the LDP.
He's also grabbed the right to make his own Cabinet appointments, a privilege once shared by party power brokers.
What Koizumi hasn't done, however, is take a hatchet to certain heavily protected industries and public services to ignite an economic recovery that would lift Japan out of its decade-long slump.
While the economy has started to pick up, analysts say this is due to booming exports of digital electronics and land prices that have stopped falling.
Koizumi just happened to be lucky enough to be in office as this happened, said Junichi Makino, a senior economist at Daiwa Institute of Research.
"It has nothing to do with policy, but with economic cycles," Makino said.
"It would have been the same no matter who was in office," Makino said.
Makino credited Koizumi for vowing to eliminate wasteful spending and privatize the nation's bloated public highways and other public services. The impact of these pledges, however, has been purely psychological.
Critics have made much of the gap between Koizumi's fiery rhetoric about change and his take-it-slow approach to reform.
Kabashima, however, said this combination is precisely what makes voters happy. They realize Japan needs to change, but understand drastic reform would cause too much pain and might actually affect their own communities or jobs. This view is backed up by polls showing most voters are satisfied with the job Koizumi has done overall.
A survey by the Asahi newspaper last weekend showed 62 percent approved of Koizumi's performance over the past three years, and 73 percent want Koizumi to stay in office for at least another year.
Of course, there are potential stumbling blocks ahead. A poor performance by the LDP in critical upper house elections in July would force Koizumi to step down.
And the outcome of US presidential elections in the fall is also a concern -- because Koizumi has invested so much in pursuing close ties with US President George W. Bush, he could suffer if Bush loses.
Casualties to Japanese soldiers in Iraq could also damage his support so severely he could be forced to resign.
But without any serious rivals in the LDP or in the Democratic Party -- the main opposition bloc -- Koizumi's future looks secure.
"The public supports my reform program," Koizumi told Japanese media Thursday.
"It is my duty to put reform on a secure track," Koizumi said.
‘CHILD PORNOGRAPHY’: The doll on Shein’s Web site measure about 80cm in height, and it was holding a teddy bear in a photo published by a daily newspaper France’s anti-fraud unit on Saturday said it had reported Asian e-commerce giant Shein (希音) for selling what it described as “sex dolls with a childlike appearance.” The French Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) said in a statement that the “description and categorization” of the items on Shein’s Web site “make it difficult to doubt the child pornography nature of the content.” Shortly after the statement, Shein announced that the dolls in question had been withdrawn from its platform and that it had launched an internal inquiry. On its Web site, Le Parisien daily published a
China’s Shenzhou-20 crewed spacecraft has delayed its return mission to Earth after the vessel was possibly hit by tiny bits of space debris, the country’s human spaceflight agency said yesterday, an unusual situation that could disrupt the operation of the country’s space station Tiangong. An impact analysis and risk assessment are underway, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said in a statement, without providing a new schedule for the return mission, which was originally set to land in northern China yesterday. The delay highlights the danger to space travel posed by increasing amounts of debris, such as discarded launch vehicles or vessel
RUBBER STAMP? The latest legislative session was the most productive in the number of bills passed, but critics attributed it to a lack of dissenting voices On their last day at work, Hong Kong’s lawmakers — the first batch chosen under Beijing’s mantra of “patriots administering Hong Kong” — posed for group pictures, celebrating a job well done after four years of opposition-free politics. However, despite their smiles, about one-third of the Legislative Council will not seek another term in next month’s election, with the self-described non-establishment figure Tik Chi-yuen (狄志遠) being among those bowing out. “It used to be that [the legislature] had the benefit of free expression... Now it is more uniform. There are multiple voices, but they are not diverse enough,” Tik said, comparing it
Prime ministers, presidents and royalty on Saturday descended on Cairo to attend the spectacle-laden inauguration of a sprawling new museum built near the pyramids to house one of the world’s richest collections of antiquities. The inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum, or GEM, marks the end of a two-decade construction effort hampered by the Arab Spring uprisings, the COVID-19 pandemic and wars in neighboring countries. “We’ve all dreamed of this project and whether it would really come true,” Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly told a news conference, calling the museum a “gift from Egypt to the whole world from a
RSS