Can Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi live up to his pledge to save the nation's ailing economy by reforming monstrous public corporations?
After 2 1/2 years in office, the answer is anything but clear. Many say that the reforms he promised are only half-complete at best. Therefore, whether Koizumi can keep his word will depend on what he does after -- or if -- he wins the Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election on Sept. 20 for a second term.
Koizumi's long-held theory for curing Japan's economic malaise involves privatizing special government-backed corporations -- now totaling 163 -- as well as the postal savings and insurance systems, which provide huge amounts of funding to the debt-ridden public firms.