Regarding Tom Plate's May 10 article, "Japan needs a dose of Koizumi's old magic": Let me have a say as a son of a small shopkeeper. Since the Koizumi administration, in our neighborhood, a big supermarket has opened, two middle-size supermarkets have closed and a small shop near the big one has closed. Minamiaizu-machi in Tajima (Fukushima Prefecture), where our son-in-law lives, is a typical provincial town with deep snow in winter. Almost all the small shops along the main streets are closed. A woman at a ryokan told us that just two supermarkets provide them everything they need.
Koizumi believes that competition or privatization is the best way to revive the economy. He just thinks of the customers, not the sellers. He should know that both buyers and sellers are Japanese and so both should be protected by the government.
Once a month the number of bankruptcies is broadcast on local television. The government tells us that the economy is getting better, but it is just playing with figures. We don't realize any improvement in our lives. The weaker must be protected by the government. Plate should come and live here before calling for the revival of Koizumi!
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