Junichiro Koizumi, the Liberal Democratic Party's new president, has been dubbed by fellow lawmakers a maverick, an eccentric, a heretic and "the Don Quixote of the political world."
Although his gray, permed hair and stylish clothes are a rarity in the nation's corridors of power, it is his unconventional attitudes that have given him labels such as "an oddball in Nagata-cho" -- where the Diet is located. This remark came from LDP maverick Makiko Tanaka.
The former health minister advocates widespread reforms, particularly privatizing the postal system -- a long favorite -- and ending the LDP's factional politics.