As the saying goes, "tragedy at first, followed by comedy." Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's dismissal of Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka on Jan. 29 was a tragic event in the political world. The collapse of the Koizumi-Tanaka team, at the forefront of the government that emerged in April 2001 to tremendous public acclaim, was a tragic scene brought about by miscalculation on Koizumi's part.
The prime minister punished Tanaka as well as a bureaucrat in the Foreign Ministry ("a hotbed of corruption," in Tanaka's words) and Diet member Muneo Suzuki ("a gangsterlike politician"). But in doing so, Koizumi revealed his true nature and his dependence on Tanaka for popular support. His popularity rating, which had remained at 80 percent for nine months, suddenly plummeted to 50 percent and then 30 percent.
That's when the tragedy stopped and the comedy began. The Liberal Democratic Party suffered another humiliation after the Suzuki debacle when Koichi Kato, former secretary general of the LDP, was forced to testify before the Diet regarding his suspected involvement in a scandal. Not long after he tendered his resignation.