Tokyo
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called for early elections this week, after the Diet struck down his biggest reform effort. Japan, like some European countries, offers banking services such as savings accounts and automatic bill-paying at post offices. Koizumi planned to privatize the financial activities of the postal service to form the world’s largest bank, a move he said would shrink the bloated bureaucracy. After some members of his own Liberal Democratic Party opposed the privatization, Koizumi dissolved the legislature and set elections for next month—a vote that will serve as a referendum on his reforms, but could toss his party from power. “Four years ago, I said I’d change the LDP,” Koizumi said. “And if it doesn’t change, I’ll destroy it.”
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