Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, now just one week into his third year in office, sounds as upbeat as he did when he took office two years ago, even as the gulf between his words and deeds continues to widen. He says he is still firmly committed to his banner slogan: "structural reform with no sacred cows." But his performance, on balance, remains, at best, lackluster. His battle against deflation -- the centerpiece of his economic policy -- is all but stalled.

Nevertheless, the prime minister enjoys fairly high public approval ratings of more than 40 percent -- a level higher than those recorded by his predecessors in their later years in office. This may be attributed partly to his prompt decision to support the U.S.-led war in Iraq -- a decision that demonstrated that Japan remains a staunch ally of the United States.

There is a more plausible explanation for his continuing popularity: the absence of strong political rivals. In recent media polls, more than half of the respondents expressed support for Mr. Koizumi, not because they supported his policy but because they thought there was no one else fit to succeed him. That may be true particularly about the Liberal Democratic Party, of which Mr. Koizumi is president.