Word: junichiro
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Amid this gloom, the Japanese are placing their hopes on a Prime Minister who comes across like a rock star. Junichiro Koizumi is a 59-year-old career foot soldier of the Liberal Democratic Party, which, except for one brief period, has ruled Japan for the past 46 years. But Koizumi has shrewdly positioned himself as an outsider. "If my party tries to destroy my reforms, if they try to stand in my way, I won't hesitate to destroy the party itself," he said repeatedly while he was campaigning for parliamentary candidates this summer...
...terms in Parliament. He had no sons, but a protege insinuated himself into the family by marrying the old man's daughter. That man was Junya, the father of Koizumi, and he succeeded Matajiro in Parliament. When he died, he left clear instructions for his eldest son: "Certain victory, Junichiro-kun," he wrote...
...were Junichiro Koizumi, about now you might be wishing you weren't so damned prophetic. During campaigning for parliamentary elections in July, the Japanese Prime Minister won over voters by giving them bad news, straight-up: the country's ailing economy would get a lot worse before it got better. Well, last week lived up to Koizumi's predictions, in spades. The benchmark stock market index sank to its lowest level in 17 years, new numbers showed that industrial output and retail sales are slowing more dramatically than expected and, in the unkindest cut of all, credit rating agency Moody...
...Know first that Koizumi the maverick is very much a product of the Establishment. His father, Junya, was a member of parliament and Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) stalwart who helped draft Japan's security agreement with the U.S. When he died in 1969, Junichiro was studying in London. He hurried back home and, while sorting through Junya's papers, discovered that his future had been laid out for him. "Certain victory, Junichiro-kun," read a note written in his father's script. In Japan, political inheritance is common: about a third of the seats in parliament are passed from...
...agenda and crush his political enemies, he must retain his only weapon, his popularity. To do that, he has to ensure that the economy doesn't deteriorate any further, alienating his supporters. And yet, as he has himself predicted, reforms probably will make things worse. If you were Junichiro Koizumi, about now you'd be wishing your prophesies turn out just plain wrong...