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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Koizumi poised for victory |
| 2005-09-11 |
| Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi crisscrossed the capital on Saturday on the last day of campaigning for Japan's general election, hewing to a reformist message that has earned him a commanding lead in the polls. The main opposition Democratic Party struggled to get its message across to voters during a 12-day campaign period that was dominated by Mr. Koizumi's personality and his framing of the election as a referendum on the privatization of the country's multipurpose postal services. Unless there is a last-minute surge of undecided, mainly urban voters supporting the opposition, Mr. Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party is poised to extend its nearly continuous 50-year grip on power. Mr. Koizumi called an early election unexpectedly last month after the upper house of Parliament rejected his bill to privatize Japan Post, the world's largest financial institution, with $3 trillion in savings and life insurance deposits. By making postal privatization - a complex subject little understood by most voters - a litmus test for reform, Mr. Koizumi tapped into a deep-seated popular desire for change and painted his opponents as reactionaries. "This election is about postal privatization: Are you for it or are you going to oppose it?" Mr. Koizumi asked a swelling crowd outside the Kamata train station here, mentioning no other issues. Adding that postal reform was a prerequisite for other pressing, if undefined, changes, he said, "If we can't accomplish this reform, what kind of reforms can we accomplish?" With four years in office, Mr. Koizumi, 63, is the longest-serving prime minister in two decades, and he has been displaying some of the same flair that won him a huge following when he was first elected. Standing atop a campaign bus, Mr. Koizumi wore a pinkish shirt without a tie, and struck a defiant pose with his left hand wrapped around a microphone and his right hand on his hip. "I came here to see Koizumi," said Yukiko Iwakawa, 36, after listening to his speech with her two young daughters at the Kamata station. "He's cool. Compared to past prime ministers, he's easy to understand. I used to think that nothing would change whoever the prime minister was. With Koizumi, change has been occurring, though not dramatically." Under Mr. Koizumi's leadership, the government's economic policies, from cuts in public spending to cleaning out the banking sector of bad loans, have drawn mixed reviews. His postal bill - which would privatize only the institution's banking and life insurance assets in 2017 - has also been criticized as too restrained. Japan's economy has revived during his tenure, though that was more a result of China's booming economy. His transformation of the political landscape, especially inside his own party, has been more striking. In an effort to wean the Liberal Democratic Party of its pork-barrel politics and its reliance on rural support, Mr. Koizumi expelled members who had opposed his postal bill. In a move to make the party more appealing to women and urban voters, he recruited women candidates to unseat the rebellious members. The strategy - though described as disingenuous by critics who pointed out that the Liberal Democrats have proportionately the fewest female candidates - has greatly rejuvenated the party's image. The opposition Democratic Party, which had made strong gains in recent elections among urban voters by projecting itself as the party of change, could face a setback in the election. "Koizumi always says the same thing," Katsuya Okada, 52, the Democratic Party leader, said Friday at a campaign stop in Nishikawaguchi, a Tokyo suburb. "Nearly 90 percent of his speech is about postal privatization issues. This election will decide the next three to four years of Japan's future, and important issues should be thoroughly discussed." The Democratic Party, which is supported by the postal union, opposes the privatization of Japan Post, arguing instead that individual savings deposits in the institution should be reduced. Postal savings have long helped the Liberal Democrats finance public works projects and reward their backers, especially in rural areas. Rie Matsumoto, 36, who attended the speech with her 6-year-old daughter, said she was dissatisfied by Mr. Koizumi's single-minded focus on postal reform. "I think he says stupid things," Ms. Matsumoto said. "I have children and parents, so issues relating to children and pension are very important. But he doesn't mention these topics. He talks only about postal reform." During the campaign, Mr. Koizumi succeeded in avoiding topics that could hurt him at the ballot box, particularly foreign policy. His repeated visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, the war memorial where Class A war criminals are deified, have damaged Japan's relations with China and South Korea. He has deployed troops to Iraq and decided to join the American-led missile defense shield, moves that have split Japanese public opinion. The Democratic Party failed to capitalize on Mr. Koizumi's weak backing on foreign policy, even though Japan's troubled relationship with China has dominated the news here this year. The party offered a substantially different approach to foreign policy, saying it would put a priority on improving ties with China and South Korea and being less dependent on the United States, but the position attracted little attention. Mr. Okada said that the Democrats would withdraw troops from Iraq and that he would never visit the Yasukuni Shrine. Mr. Koizumi's tough approach toward China worries many Japanese, but also receives strong support, especially among the young. "I find the Democratic Party's foreign policy unacceptable," said Hiroki Ota, 31, a worker at an Internet equipment company, who came to listen to Mr. Koizumi at a campaign stop. "I think their policy is tantamount to kneeling on the ground and bowing to China. I don't deny that friendly relations with China are important, but China seems to blame Japan for everything, and I don't like that." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |