The Sept. 11 Lower House election will test Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's politics, giving voters a chance to choose the nation's leadership between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the opposition Democratic Party of Japan.
In the campaign, Koizumi is focusing on postal privatization, the centerpiece of his reform agenda, but that should not be the only election issue. Immediate attention must be given to restructuring the social security system and enacting fiscal and tax reforms to support the new system. The nation's falling birthrate and the graying population necessitate social security reform.
Koizumi says postal privatization is essential to revitalizing the economy, promoting business recovery, and alleviating social security-related tax burdens in the future.