With Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi firing off a barrage of reform proposals aimed at turning the ailing economy around, his foes, including fellow Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers and bureaucrats keen to protect vested interests, are drawing battle lines. But observers say Koizumi, backed by ...

Staff writers Reformist Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi seems to know too well that what counts is his image. And his image-conscious political style may be doing the trick as ordinary citizens, weary after a decade of economic and social doldrums, are starting to see ...

It is the heretical style of new Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi that has sent his Cabinet’s approval ratings soaring, according to Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda. Yasuo Fukuda The unprecedented way in which the maverick leader formed his Cabinet — by ignoring the Liberal ...

While Junichiro Koizumi’s appointment of Makiko Tanaka as foreign minister took the nation by surprise, some experts warn she could be a mixed blessing for the new prime minister despite her strong popular appeal. The sharp-tongued Tanaka, daughter of late Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, ...

Unless one is a political analyst or blessed with an excellent memory, it is close to impossible to correctly rattle off the names of Japan’s prime ministers since the late 1980s. There have simply been too many in that time. Whoever wins Tuesday’s election ...

The Liberal Democratic Party’s factional interests appear to have put former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto into pole position in the race to find a successor to Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori. Hashimoto came under the spotlight after LDP power broker Hiromu Nonaka reportedly said Tuesday ...

Speculation is growing that Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori may remain in his post beyond April, partly because of the recent decline in share prices and the confusion over just who would succeed the unpopular leader. LDP policy chief Shizuka Kamei insists the intraparty vote ...

With Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori’s resignation imminent, observers predict his most likely successor may be ruling party heavyweight Hiromu Nonaka, a man many say is unlikely to pull the nation out of its current political and economic quagmire. Although Nonaka has repeatedly denied he ...

Normally, a prime minister will breathe a sigh of relief when the annual budget package clears the Lower House. But for Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, the chamber’s approval of the 82.65 trillion yen fiscal 2001 budget could mark the beginning of the end for ...

Pop into a convenience store and you may still find inconvenience: They don’t sell medicine and you may not find cigarettes or alcohol at some shops. The sales of these products are strictly controlled under the government’s licensing system, from which local retailers — ...

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori appears to be pinning his survival on a shift from postwar economic materialism to a revival of traditional values, but his true prospects will depend more on his ability to avoid making blunders. Mori hopes to make a drastic review ...

The ongoing process of realigning central government ministries and agencies remains trapped in a bureaucratic vise, according to former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, who is currently state minister in charge of streamlining the nation’s bureaucracy. For one, it lacks flexibility, he said in an ...