By Ezra
For those interested in events beyond our own borders, the Washington Post has an interesting article on Junichiro Koizumi, Japan's Prime Minister, who recently dissolved his own party to eject the hardliners and has embarked on an ambitious -- to say the least -- program of privatizing most everything in Japan, starting with the Postal Service, which, through some mechanism I don't understand, seems to act as the nation's largest bank.
And then he had breakfast.
No, not really. Koizumi doesn't eat breakfast. He's too sweet for breakfast.
In any case, the clash is hurtling towards a vote this weekend, which'll either send Koizumi to the unemployment line or leave him leader of a wholly reworked party. Impressive stuff. In addition, he's been sending "assassin" candidates against his enemies -- female celebrities, corporate raiders, and other attention-getting asskickers. It's political theatre on a pretty grand scale, albeit political theatre that I don't quite understand. So if any of you are following the Japanese elections, I'd love to hear your impressions.
