Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is dealing with less space and more traffic jams as he settles into a temporary residence before his new state-of-the-art official residence is completed.
Koizumi moved to the temporary housing in Shinagawa Ward about three months ago. The old residence is being torn down and the new one, being built at an estimated cost of 40 billion yen, will not be ready for about two years.
His new digs were originally built for the head of the Cabinet Legislative Bureau and is near Empress Michiko's old family home, which the government planned to raze after auctioning off the property in lieu of an inheritance tax payment after the June 1999 death of her father, Hidesaburo Shoda. Neighbors are now campaigning to save the house.