Koizumi's on Top, for now
Koizumi has won his LDP's party leadership...for a sitting PM, it was a close one....interesting bit from reuters about the reforms in Japan:

KEEPING TAKENAKA?

Only a few weeks ago, many pundits said deep-seated dislike of Koizumi's painful reform policies might prompt rank-and-file LDP members and lawmakers to give him the thumbs down.

But with such views proven wrong, odds lengthened that Koizumi would succumb to pressure to dismiss Takenaka, whose policy of forcing banks to make a more realistic assessment of their balance sheets laden with non-performing loans has been blamed for inflicting undue pain on small businesses.

Hidenao Nakagawa, an LDP lawmaker regarded as one of Koizumi's closest confidants, said he expected Takenaka to stay, although it was unclear if the minister would keep both his banking supervisory and economic planning portfolios

Hmm...is it causing small business pain? i think they have to stay the course. lack of financial reform is the reason japan has been in a funk for over 14 years. special interests have completely destroyed the economy. time for change.