Although he is still smarting from his enforced retirement before last Sunday's election, former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone still backs the Liberal Democratic Party and the Junichiro Koizumi administration.

He feels, however, that the LDP and the nation as a whole have room to improve.

Nakasone, considered one of Japan's strongest postwar leaders, told The Japan Times in a recent interview that the nation must improve its overall ties with other parts of Asia.

He also said that Japan should urge its longtime ally, the United States, to work more closely with the United Nations and key states on the Iraq problem.

He meanwhile views the LDP as a party that will face an identity crisis if it depends too much on New Komeito to win elections, by tapping the organized votes of its coalition partner's main support group, the Soka Gakkai lay Buddhist organization.

"LDP candidates must win on their own, and stop counting on New Komeito for 20 (percent) to 30 percent of their votes," he said.

Nakasone also voiced concern about New Komeito's policy differences with the LDP, especially its reluctance to amend the Constitution and the Fundamental Law of Education.

He has sought to revise the Occupation-inspired Constitution throughout his 56 years as a Diet member.

"The current Constitution was (handed down by the Supreme Commander of Allied Powers Gen. Douglas) MacArthur," he said. "It is now time for the Japanese people to make their own Constitution."

He said the LDP should pursue this goal by soliciting cross-party support, indicating that the Democratic Party of Japan should be involved in this process.

The LDP plans to unveil a revision blueprint in 2005, when the party marks its 50th birthday. A Diet panel studying the revision will also submit a final report that year.

Nakasone predicted that over the next two years, some LDP and DPJ members will join hands to prepare for the revision.

"Such a big issue as revising the Constitution must not be done by the LDP alone," he said. "We have to have a national force across party lines, so there may be a political realignment or a new party movement."

On the war-renouncing Article 9, Nakasone said the second clause, which prohibits land, sea and air forces, should be amended to clearly recognize the Self-Defense Forces as Japan's military and to allow the nation to engage in collective defense.

It should also stipulate that SDF units can engage in overseas peace and humanitarian assistance if requested to do so by the U.N. or the international community, he said.

Nakasone, 85, was forced to retire when the LDP, citing a 73-year-old age limit, would not support his candidacy in last Sunday's general election.

When Koizumi visited him last month and urged him not to run in Sunday's general election due to the LDP's new age-limit rule for proportional representation candidates, Nakasone publicly vented his spleen.

"Only the voters should be able to give a mandate to a Diet member," he said, adding that Koizumi broke an LDP promise to place him at the top of his proportional representation bloc for life.

But Nakasone said he still supports the Koizumi Cabinet and noted that the prime minister's overall foreign policy and structural reform initiatives are going in the right direction.

During his 1982-87 prime ministership, he worked to strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance by building close ties with then U.S. President Ronald Reagan, a relationship often compared to Koizumi's current ties with President George W. Bush.

Nakasone has this advice for Koizumi: Talk to Bush seriously about the need to cooperate more with the U.N., France, Germany and Russia on running Iraq.

Koizumi should also tell Bush that the U.S. must push forward with the "road map" for Middle East peace by pressing Israel to strive for a peaceful coexistence with the Palestinians, Nakasone said.

Nakasone was credited with improving ties with South Korea, becoming the first prime minister, soon after taking office, to officially visit the country.

He noted that for Japan's long-term diplomacy, building good relations in Asia is critically important, noting that one way to achieve this is to establish a framework of regular summits involving the leaders of Japan, South Korea and China.

On trade, Nakasone said Japan should not compete with China over Southeast Asian markets and should instead work together to create a bigger regional trade framework.

"That will also help Japan secure a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council and get the country stricken from the former enemy clause of the U.N. Charter, because China's support on this issue is a key factor," he said.

On the domestic structural reform front, Nakasone is credited with privatizing three state entities during his administration -- the Japanese National Railways, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., and Japan (Tobacco) Monopoly Corp.

He said Koizumi's plans to privatize the postal services and public expressway operators are "correct in direction," though he noted that whether these goals are good for the nation depends on the nature of the reforms and how they are achieved.

Nakasone said, however, that he sees Koizumi falling short on narrowing opinions and building a consensus within the LDP on his privatization plans.

"He needs to be not just a 'presidential prime minister' (who takes strong leadership over the party), but also a 'parliamentary prime minister' when it comes to making laws on roads or reforming the postal services," Nakasone said. "I have told him that often."

Asked if Koizumi listened, Nakasone simply said, 'Not very much."