He's purged the party of recalcitrant anti-reformers at least in one field, and others will get the message, too. |
I don't think either party is the party of radical reform. Both will do evolutionary reform, and in some cases there would be more under the Democrats. |
I think this will significantly change the LDP, |
I think this will significantly change the LDP. |
If Koizumi wins, his party is not going to be the old LDP, ... Koizumi has become able to call the shots and in the future, no matter who is prime minister, the back benchers will be hesitant about defying policy made by the leadership. |
If you're looking for the next issue, it will be very tempting for people to say 'Let's do it now'. |
Party label and leadership image become more important...and thus who leads the party and what the party stands for, which can be communicated to a large number of people only by media, especially TV, becomes a more important factor. |
Popular nationalism and sometimes the Chinese government's manipulation of the issue, as well as Japan's poor handling of it over the years, sometimes supersede their rational economic interests. It's a dangerous pattern if it gets out of hand. So far it hasn't. |
The beef ban and military base realignment will be seriously discussed with Bush pressuring Koizumi on the former and Koizumi pressuring the U.S. on the latter. |
This election could mean a major jump to a much more Western-style system in Japanese politics -- that's revolutionary. |
You don't have to be young and handsome, but you have to be able to manage the media and project an image. |