Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who has broken the norm in his Cabinet lineups, on Friday called for revising the Constitution to introduce a popular vote for the nation's top leader.
"Diet members may oppose this fiercely, but I think the general public will largely welcome the idea," Koizumi told his first news conference since taking office. "This is a structural reform in politics . . . a deregulation in the political circles."
Koizumi added that he hopes his initiative will help break Japan's postwar mentality that has long tabooed any attempt to revise the 1946 Constitution.