Word: koizumi
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...what happened next, however, that explains why Koizumi is such a fascinating, contradictory figure?and why he is TIME's Asian Newsmaker for 2005. Sure, postal reform was quickly passed into law. And Koizumi quickly announced plans to turn the country's eight remaining state-owned public lenders into a single entity, reduce the bureaucracy's control over government funds, and cut back on subsidies to local governments. But it wasn't his reforms?bold in conception though they may be?that captured the imagination. It was his visit, on Oct. 17, to the tree-shrouded Shinto shrine just across...
...there in 1937 and 1938. Instead, it says, "The Chinese were soundly defeated, suffering heavy casualties. Inside the city, residents were once again able to live their lives in peace." As a euphemism for atrocity, that summary is hard to beat. And so it is hardly surprising that as Koizumi continues to visit Yasukuni, the protests against him outside Japan?especially in South Korea and China?become more impassioned by the day. Koizumi doesn't seem to care...
...that self-confidence that defines the man. Few Prime Ministers have so thoroughly dominated Japanese politics. Before Koizumi took office in 2001, the country had churned through 10 Prime Ministers in 12 years. In the last four and a half years, however, Koizumi has sounded a remarkably consistent message that has both kept him popular at home and elevated his?and Japan's?profile abroad. Thanks in large part to the efforts of the government he leads, the economy is on a more solid footing than it has been in years, and the nation is riding a long-overdue wave...
...Rarely has a man so nicely matched his hour. A third-generation politician, Koizumi toiled for decades in relative obscurity in the Diet until he unexpectedly vaulted to power in 2001 on a platform that promised sweeping economic reforms. Unfortunately, Koizumi's record has fallen far short of his grand promises, but that's largely due to the stiff opposition he has encountered from old-guard LDP members, whose constituencies have long benefited from exactly the kind of pork-barrel programs Koizumi has been trying to do away with. But now, with many of his staunchest opponents finally ousted, Koizumi...
...that end, Koizumi has developed a bolder, if not outright confrontational, position with his Asian neighbors. At the same time, he has made a strategic decision to tie his country more tightly than ever to the U.S. as a buffer against the seemingly inexorable rise of China. In February, the Japanese government joined the U.S. in declaring peace in the Taiwan Strait a "common strategic objective"?a move highly provocative to China that would have been unfathomable even five years ago. After a postelection cabinet reshuffle in November, Koizumi's newly appointed Foreign Affairs Minister, Taro Aso, said "Japan should...