A showdown looms between advocates of reform and vested interests.
Political attention is currently focused on a key panel discussing the future of toll expressways, with its members due to hammer out before the end of the month a framework to privatize Japan Highway Public Corp. and three other debt-strapped public expressway firms.
The seven-member panel, which operates under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, has warned that the four firms are on a fast track to doom, saddled with debts totaling 40 trillion yen and snowballing and unprofitable toll expressway projects destined to fail.