This was the year of the Koizumi craze.
Products such as a Junichiro Koizumi cell phone strap and T-shirts stamped with the prime minister's face sold as if he were a teen idol.
A collection of photographs of Koizumi hit bookstores nationwide, and in early December he was even chosen as this year's winner of the "trendy vocabulary award" for pet phrases like "reform without sacred cows" and "pain of reform."
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.