Japan Times editors picked the following domestic news stories as the most important of 2001:
1: Junichiro Koizumi was elected prime minister in April, riding a wave of enormous popular support and leading his Liberal Democratic Party in July to an impressive victory in the Upper House election. His push for reforms, however, put him at odds with the party's old guard.
2: The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States prompted Japan to enact a law enabling the dispatch of Self-Defense Force vessels to the Indian Ocean to provide logistic support to the U.S.-led military operations in Afghanistan. It was the first wartime deployment of the SDF.