LOS ANGELES -- I met Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi two years ago for a fascinating interview. I recall slightly pressing him on the touchy question of whether Japan would actually overcome its restrictive pacifist Constitution (a significant legacy of the U.S. Occupation) and dispatch troops to Iraq, which would prove a symbolic and groundbreaking move. Many doubted that Japan would ever do this, but Koizumi insisted to me that he would.
And he did. Japan sent troops.
Whatever the wisdom of the Iraq occupation or Japan's contribution, Koizumi stands as one political leader who does what he says he will do, at least on major issues. Last month, for example, Koizumi threatened to dissolve the Lower House of Parliament and take his reform program to the country if the Diet voted down his government's legislation on postal reform, a key measure.
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