ABSTRACT
More than two years have passed since Junichiro Koizumi assumed leadership after his surprise victory of Japan’s presidential election in April 2001. At the outset, he successfully portrayed himself as a fearless reformer who would pursue the restructuring of the economy. The public cheered when he argued that, in order to regain the nation’s economic dynamism in the past, Japan should downsize its public sector and secure a larger economic space for its private sector. He enjoyed an unprecedented high degree of support, greater than 80 percent, which indicated that the public shared his view and, more important, believed that here was a leader capable of pushing through the necessary reforms, irrespective of opposition within his own party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
