Following the government's eleventh-hour decision to forgo a planned increase in the tax on happoshu foamy liquor the Asahi Shimbun ran an editorial cartoon showing a happy man sitting at the kotatsu and hoisting a can of the beerlike stuff in tribute to his TV, which showed Koizumi father and son toasting the tax-plan failure.
The inclusion of Kotaro Koizumi is easy to understand, since the newly minted "actor" made his debut in October in a commercial for Suntory's new low-calorie happoshu beverage, Diet. His father, the prime minister, of course, does not appear in the commercial, but as the cartoon implies, he wasn't exactly upset that the tax measure was put off.
Cynics might infer that Koizumi was protecting his son's career (Kotaro has had no other job offers), but the prime minister's no-interest stance is in keeping with his populist image. Happoshu is the beverage of the masses for the simple reason that it is cheaper than beer. Bringing its price closer to that of domestic beer would rob the little guy of one of his "small pleasures in life."