Shinjiro Koizumi has long been cast as a future prime minister in the media and the public eye. Since entering the Diet in 2009, the son of popular former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has used his sense of style, his oratory skills and his penchant for speaking out against his home Liberal Democratic Party's policies to build a strong support base.
Thus when Koizumi received his first minister-level posting in last month's Cabinet reshuffle, most observers focused on it as an opportunity for a rising star to shine on a bigger stage. Fewer saw it for what it really was: a power play by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Rather than looking at this posting as an opportunity, this is in fact a major political test for Koizumi, one that has already seen him humbled in front of domestic and international audiences alike. Abe placed Koizumi in a high risk, low reward Cabinet billet, basically daring him to choose between toeing the administration's line to keep Cabinet support behind him or failing alone on a prominent stage. The decisions Koizumi makes while serving in this role will shape his long-term political trajectory in ways that most observers have yet to identify.