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.
Asian perspectives of the US have shifted from a country once perceived as a force of “moral legitimacy” to something akin to “a landlord seeking rent,” Singaporean Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen (黃永宏) said on the sidelines of an international security meeting. Ng said in a round-table discussion at the Munich Security Conference in Germany that assumptions undertaken in the years after the end of World War II have fundamentally changed. One example is that from the time of former US president John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address more than 60 years ago, the image of the US was of a country
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
BLIND COST CUTTING: A DOGE push to lay off 2,000 energy department workers resulted in hundreds of staff at a nuclear security agency being fired — then ‘unfired’ US President Donald Trump’s administration has halted the firings of hundreds of federal employees who were tasked with working on the nation’s nuclear weapons programs, in an about-face that has left workers confused and experts cautioning that the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE’s) blind cost cutting would put communities at risk. Three US officials who spoke to The Associated Press said up to 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) were abruptly laid off late on Thursday, with some losing access to e-mail before they’d learned they were fired, only to try to enter their offices on Friday morning
STEADFAST DART: The six-week exercise, which involves about 10,000 troops from nine nations, focuses on rapid deployment scenarios and multidomain operations NATO is testing its ability to rapidly deploy across eastern Europe — without direct US assistance — as Washington shifts its approach toward European defense and the war in Ukraine. The six-week Steadfast Dart 2025 exercises across Bulgaria, Romania and Greece are taking place as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approaches the three-year mark. They involve about 10,000 troops from nine nations and represent the largest NATO operation planned this year. The US absence from the exercises comes as European nations scramble to build greater military self-sufficiency over their concerns about the commitment of US President Donald Trump’s administration to common defense and
RSS