In A country that so often settles for mixed messages, the stunning victory of Junichiro Koizumi this week is a clear signal from Japan's voters. They are ready and eager to break with outworn special interests and modernise the ties between their government and the economy. The public may not know quite how to go about it; but having given their champion a clear mandate, and with economic recovery at last gathering force, the Japanese have more cause to be optimistic than they have had for a very long time. Since he took over as prime minister in 2001, Mr Koizumi has complained loudly about the conservative "forces of resistance" that riddle his own Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has governed Japan almost continuously for the past half-century. For four years, however, he has had to temper those complaints with compromise, as his opponents in the LDP have blocked or diluted his efforts to shrink Japan's overweening state. A month ago, fed up, he decided to risk his career and plans publicly, with an election. On September nth voters emphatically backed his message, rewarding his co- alition with a two-thirds majority in parliament.
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