- The destruction of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s faction system (though there will be attempts to resurrect this when he leaves office)
- The dismantling of the so-called Iron Triangle—the term used to describe the politically and financially incestuous relationship between politicians, the bureaucracy, and business and industry.
- The greater participation of people (particularly women) with non-political backgrounds in the political process
- The ending—or sharp reduction—of pork barrel public works projects in rural areas; i.e., highways and bridges that transport travelers to nowhere.
Even some of his supporters don’t care for the last one, as this article in the Japan Times makes clear:
Akihiro Nishimura (a longtime secretary to the late Finance Minister Hiroshi Mitsuzuka, the previous leader of what is now the Mori faction) admitted that the prime minister’s reforms have also been harmful in some ways, especially for those living in rural areas, who are seeing a reduction in subsidies and public works projects.
Note the Japan Times’ cheap putdown in their use of the word “admit” rather than the more accurate “claim”. The foundation of the LDP’s political control was built on the support of rural electoral districts, which the party parlayed into a perpetual parliamentary majority. In return, the party rewarded those districts with unneeded facilities paid for with public funds.
The Japan Times devoted countless years and vats of printers’ ink to complain about this arrangement–until someone actually did something. We can attribute that to the JT’s political orientation, however; they would have gladly given credit where credit was due had the reformer been from the left of the political spectrum.
Others were even more displeased:
“Koizumi has managed to go further than just destroy the LDP — he has completely annihilated it,” grumbled People’s New Party leader Tamisuke Watanuki, a former House of Representatives speaker. “Koizumi has turned Japan from a democracy into a dictatorship where everyone must do whatever he tells them to.”
But of course Watanuki is a former LDP member who was booted out of the party in the wake of last year’s postal privatization battle.
Typical of the Japan Times’ style of collegiate spitball journalism is their presentation of Watanuki’s sour grapes before their review of Koizumi’s accomplishments. It is also typical of Japanese journalism in general that they would extensively quote members from the Mori faction of the LDP without bothering to mention that Koizumi is a member of it.
The article ends on this note from Nishimura:
“Koizumi was in charge of the ’scrap’ part of a ’scrap-and-build’ process.”
This negative characterization creates the wrong impression about Koizumi’s positive achievements, but again, few media outlets–and certainly not the Japan Times–can resist the temptation to conclude a report without flicking one final spitball.
When I wrote about this subject in Japundit before, I chose a word I consider to be a more accurate representation than “scrap”: “icebreaker”. You can read those pieces here and here.
For a classic example of the media and professional pundits falling flat on their face by tripping over their own banana peels, try this article from 2002. Don’t miss their attempt to make Koizumi look like a chump with their selection of that particular photo.
“The most likely scenario is that he stays and achieves very little for at least another year, year-and-a-half,” said Columbia University political scientist Gerald Curtis. “The chances are that he, like the country, will muddle through.”
And still the mainstream media wonders why people read blogs.
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