Koizumi pushes the envelope

JAPAN’S LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY has governed the country for half a century almost without interruption; its current leader, Junichiro Koizumi, has been prime minister for more than four years, an unusually long time in Japan. Now Koizumi is risking his record and the party’s tenure by dissolving Parliament and calling new elections, ostensibly over the obscure topic of post office savings accounts. It’s a gamble he deserves to win.

The LDP and the opposition Democratic Party of Japan formally launched their campaigns at the end of August for the election, to be held Sunday. Japan’s economic stagnation has spared Koizumi the international criticism aimed at the nation in the past, especially from the United States. American leaders no longer pummel the country because of trade deficits, as in the 1970s and ‘80s, or its automakers’ threat to Detroit. China is now the scapegoat for U.S. consumers’ love of cheap imports, while Japanese cars cram the streets of Los Angeles, New York and Washington.

Koizumi has maintained the government’s traditionally close relations with Washington and has loosely interpreted the Japanese constitution to dispatch soldiers to Iraq, although not for front-line combat. He also has put the navy to sea to help patrol against terrorists. But those actions have drawn less debate than postal reform.

The Japanese post office doubles as the world’s biggest insurance company and bank, with an estimated $3 trillion in deposits.

Koizumi has long proposed privatizing the post office and splitting it into separate sections for mail, insurance and savings. His plan was rejected by the upper house of Parliament in early August, largely because of patronage -- the post office and its employees are a prime source of support and financing for the LDP. But Koizumi pointed out that privatizing at least the savings unit of the post office would pare a huge number of government employees; that would free money for more productive investment and boost Japan’s attempt to recover from more than a decade of economic stagnation.

Both Koizumi and Katsuya Okada, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, cast themselves as reformers as the blessedly short campaign opened. Koizumi has purged foes of his reforms from the party and is running handpicked candidates against them in the upcoming election. The result could determine if the United States’ strongest Asian ally continues its economic comeback.