| Page 2 of 2 < |
Japan's Koizumi Wins a Landslide Mandate for Change
Election workers open ballot boxes at a sports center in Tokyo at the start of vote-counting. The Liberal Democratic Party's triumph was larger than expected.
(By Shuji Kajiyama -- Associated Press)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Though Koizumi has been often criticized for moving too slowly on reform, economists credit his administration with making major progress on cleaning up Japan's bad loans from the 1990s. Bolder steps could further boost confidence in the fledgling economic recovery here.
"Privatization of the post office will be taken as a sign that Koizumi has entered the next and larger phase of reforming Japan," said Robert Feldman, chief economist for the investment bank Morgan Stanley in Tokyo.
Koizumi is likely to continue to push for a historic change in Japan's pacifist constitution, which prohibits the country from maintaining an official military but allows for the Self-Defense Forces to protect the country. Such an effort, coupled with Koizumi's annual visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which honors the nation's military dead, including World War II criminals, is likely to infuriate China.
Just days before the elections, China dispatched five warships near contested natural gas fields in the East China Sea for the first time. China, over Japan's objections, plans to begin tapping gas in that area over the next several weeks. A Japanese defense official said the Self-Defense Forces would conduct their own exercises in international waters to send "a message to Beijing."
Koizumi, President Bush's closest ally in Asia, is also moving to fortify the U.S.-Japan alliance to check China's rising might.
Frustrated by Japan's inability to gain a seat on the U.N. Security Council, the Koizumi administration has indicated that it might take a harder line on the issue. Japan shoulders almost 20 percent of the U.N. budget and plans to demand a reduction of those fees at the General Assembly meeting in New York, which begins Sept. 19, unless Japan is assured clout commensurate with its tab, the Yomiuri newspaper reported.
The head of the Democratic Party, Katsuya Okada, announced that he would resign and take responsibility for the defeat, leaving the opposition leaderless and rudderless.
Koizumi, Japan's longest-ruling prime minister since the 1980s, maintained Sunday that despite victory he will still step down at the end of his current term next September. But people close to him have suggested he may seek another.
"Mr. Koizumi will command concentrated power," said Jun Iio, professor of political science at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo. "What will he do with the power? He'll surely privatize the postal system. But other issues are unclear. As for diplomacy with Asia, we know this much: Japan's relations with Asian neighbors won't improve as long as Koizumi is in office."
Special correspondent Sachiko Sakamaki contributed to this report.
