On the surface, most elections are about personalities, false promises and special interests. But Japan's general election Sept. 11 is about a deeper historical reconciliation -- the effort to resolve differences between the country's cultural and behavioral preferences, and the organizational practices put in place by the Occupation forces after 1945.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has dispatched his loyal followers into the provinces of Japan to crush once and for all the postwar dominance of the Japanese bureaucracy.
As everything indicates, this is a highly personalized effort by the Koizumi family of politicians to resolve the leadership struggle between politicians and bureaucrats that was created 60 years ago by a flawed Occupation-era policy.