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• Position: Off the News - Brief Article

In the recent upper house elections in Japan, the governing Liberal Democratic Party lost seats. The party was still able to form a coalition and hang on to power, but in a weakened state.

What this means, according to top Japanese officials, is that Prime Minister Koizumi will need to push ahead with structural reforms such as overhauling the postal service and selling off state-owned assets in order to strengthen the party's future election prospects. The LDP has been split over the desire for change. Koizumi's talk of reform, along with his "maverick" image, have won relatively high...