Kono Taro, LDP Iconoclast

摘要

ON SITTING DOWN for an interview with Kono Taro, my first question is predictable enough, on North Korea's latest missile tests a few days before, but his answer is a complete surprise: He immediately launches into a criticism of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's alienation of the Beijing government. Such candor might be unremarkable if this was an opposition leader, or even an LDP back-bencher. But Mr. Kono is not only vice minister of justice and the up-and-coming son of one of the party's most powerful figures, he is also a stalwart ally of Mr. Koizumi when it comes to domestic reform.