The Liberal Democratic Party celebrated its 50th anniversary Tuesday and vowed to press ahead with reforms.
The party declared that it must steer structural reforms in the same way the nation undertook bold changes during the Meiji Restoration in the 19th century and after World War II. And while the LDP advocates these changes for Japan, including a dramatic change of the Constitution, it has also been pursuing its own overhaul.
The party president, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, reiterated that the LDP has "changed to a reform party" when he led its ranks, purged of many old-guard antireformists, to a landslide victory in the Sept. 11 general election, campaigning for his postal privatization initiative.