In a rather belated move aimed at giving the languishing Japanese economy a badly needed shot in the arm, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's key economic panel has put yet another sacred cow on its reform agenda: agriculture.
At a meeting earlier this month of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, chaired by Koizumi himself, four private-sector members stressed the need for Japan to promote free-trade agreements, especially with Asian trading partners and without treating the farm sector as sacrosanct.
It was the first time that the highest government policymaking body on economic affairs, which was set up early last year as part of a sweeping reorganization of government ministries and agencies, had squared up to the closely interwove issues of promoting FTAs and liberalizing the politically sensitive domestic farm markets.