Junichiro Koizumi

Japan state institutions Conservatism and Christian democracy 1942.1.8.–

Prime Minister of Japan who pushed through bad-loan clean-up and postal privatisation under the slogan of structural reform

A third-generation politician born in Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Koizumi graduated from Keio University and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1972. After serving as minister of health and welfare and of posts and telecommunications he became LDP president and Prime Minister in April 2001. Under the slogan "no economic recovery without structural reform" he put the economist Heizo Takenaka in charge of clearing bad loans, and he became known as a neoliberal reformer for reducing government debt and privatising Japan Post. He won one of the largest majorities in modern Japanese history in 2005. His deployment of the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq and his visits to the Yasukuni Shrine drew attention and strained relations with China and South Korea. He resigned in 2006, left politics in 2009, and from 2013 advocated abandoning nuclear power.

Also known as: Jun'ichirō Koizumi · Junichirō Koizumi