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Junichiro Koizumi was inaugurated as Prime Minister on April 26, 2001. By 首相官邸ホームページ,

TOP 10 Astonishing Facts about Junichiro Koizumi

Junichiro was born on 8th January 1942 in Yokosuka, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan. His parents Junya Samejima and Yoshi Koizumi. His dad was a member of the house of Representatives and director-general of the Japan Defense Agency. It is said that he adopted his wife’s family name of Koizumi when they were wedded. He was prime minister of Japan and president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LPD) in the year 2001-2006. He is the sixth long-serving prime minister in Japanese history. Junichiro retired from politics in 2009.

1. He was the president of LDP

Koizumi was elected the President of LDP. He beat Hashimoto and won with 87 to 11 percent, in the second vote of diet members, Koizumi won 51 to 40%, and He finally defeated Hashimato by a final tarry of 298 to 155 votes. On April 26 he was made japans prime minister. His coalition gathered 78 out of 121 seats in the upper house of election in July.

2. His marriage life

Junichiro married in 1978 to a 21-year-old university student Kayako Miyamoto. The wedding party was held at the Tokyo prince hotel and had 2500 attendants including the prime minister of that time Takeo Fukuda. Their wedding cake was designed like the national Diet building. Their marriage ended in 1982 after Kayako reported that she was not happy in the marriage. After divorce, Koizumi did not marry again. He said divorce consumed more energy than marriage. 

3.Koizumi resigned from the office

Junichiro Koizumi was inaugurated as Prime Minister on April 26, 2001. By 首相官邸ホームページ,

Koizumi announced that he would step down from office in 2006, as per Liberal Democratic Party rules and this time rules had changed from how they were previously, this time he could not choose who would succeed him like was in the past prime ministers. On 20th September 2006, Abe succeeded Koizumi as the prime minister. Koizumi remained in the diet in the administration of Abe and Yasuo Fukuda but announced his retirement from politics on 25th September 2008. He maintained his seat until the next general election when his son Shinjiro was  elected into the same seat. After his retirement, he has gotten a chance to be interviewed by journalists and has had private interactions.

4.Koizumi as a member of the house of representative

Koizumi got his first senior post in 1979 as a parliamentary vice-minister of finance. In 1988 he got his first ministerial seat as a minister of health and welfare under the leadership of Prime Ministers Noburu Takeshita and Sosuke Uno. In 1992 he held a cabinet seat as minister of posts and telecommunication in the Miyazawa cabinet. He also held the position of minister of health and welfare in the Hashimoto cabinets from 1996-1998. 

5.He was popular

He was in many instances a popular leader. Most people knew him because of his wavy grey hair giving him the nickname “Lionheart”. He also gained popularity after the economy recovered after being re-elected in 2003. His visit to North Korea to solve the issue of abducted Japanese nationals in some way raised his popularity. His popularity raised high when he dissolved the house and expelled rebel LDP members. Opinion polls ranked the Governments approval ratings between 58- 65%. LDP elections held in September 2005 were their largest victory since 1986 and the party was given a majority in the House of Representatives and nullifying opposing voices in the house of councilors. 

6. The domestic policy when he was the prime minister.

Koizumi pushed for many things that would help improve the economy of japan by aiming to act against bad debts with commercial banks, reorganizing the factional structure of the LDP, and privatizing the postal savings system. During his leadership as a prime minister he instead of the need for a period of painful restructuring to improve the future. He used the new council on economic and fiscal policy to initiate the policy and issued an annual planning document “basic policies for economics and fiscal management and reform” they planned a major reorganization of the central government and shaped economic policy in cooperation with the cabinet members. In meeting the challenge of economic stagnation CEPP took an integrated approach, a worldwide economic view, and promoted transparency. He appointed a Keio university economist as minister of financial services to fix the country’s banking crisis.

7.He introduced foreign policy

Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi and U.S. President George W. Bush meet at the White House on 25 September 2001, By Series: Photographs Related to the George W. Bush Administration, 1/20/2001 – 1/20/2009 Collection: Records of the White House Photo Office (George W. Bush Administration),

His foreign policy was focused on closer relations with the United States and UN-Centered diplomacy and which was adopted by his predecessors and went ahead of supporting the US policies in the war on terrorism. He deployed the Japanese force to Iraq which was the first military Mission in a foreign country after World War II. Most Japanese tell that favorable US-japan was a result of Koizumi’s friendship with the US president.

8.He expanded Self-defense forces policy 

In 2001 Koizumi approved the expansion of Japan’s self-defense forces and was lucky to be given greater scope to operate outside the country. Some of them were dispatched to Iraq. His government also introduced a bill to upgrade the defense agency to ministry status. The defense agency later became the Japanese ministry of defense on 9th January 2007.

9.He was a fan of Elvis Presley

Koizumi is a noted fan of Elvis Presley and it must be a coincidence that they share a birth date. In 2001 he released a collection of songs he likes from Elvis and commented on every song. Koizumi and his brother at one time helped finance a statue of Presley in Tokyo.

10.His statement on World War II

Koizumi with Kofi Annan, George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin, 20 July 2001, By Kremlin.ru,

On 15th August 2005, as they commemorated the 6th anniversary of the end of World War II, Koizumi publicly stated that he would express keen remorse and heartfelt apologies and he vowed that japan who not take that path again. However, he was criticized for his action such as visiting Yasukuni which resulted in worsening the relationship between China and South Korea.