In a strong move, on 8 August 2005, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called for a snap election to the lower house, as threatened, after LDP stalwarts and opposition DPJ parliamentarians defeated his proposal for a large-scale reform and privatisation of Japan Post, which besides being Japan's state-owned postal monopoly is arguably the world's largest financial institution, with nearly 331 trillion yen of assets.

His grandfather, Koizumi Matajirō, was Minister of Posts and Telecommunications under Prime Ministers Hamaguchi and Wakatsuki and an early advocate of postal privatization.

Within Japan, Koizumi pushed for new ways to revitalise the moribund economy, aiming to act against bad debts with commercial banks, privatize the postal savings system, and reorganize the factional structure of the LDP.

* Koizumi wins postal reform vote in Lower House

He married Yoshie Koizumi, the daughter of Rikken Minseitō director and postal minister Matajirō Koizumi.

Koizumi's grandson, Jun ' ichirō Koizumi, served as the Prime Minister of Japan from 2001 to 2006 and inherited his grandfather's idea of postal privatization ; Junichiro had himself been Minister of Posts and Telecommunications in 1992-93 under Kiichi Miyazawa.

Impact-Because Prime Minister Koizumi will so effectively reform the postal service he will be seen as an effector of reform which will easily win him the re-election.

Koizumi maintained, as he pledged before calling the election, a position that he would not give official party endorsement to 37 members of his party who voted against the postal bills ; that is, the 37 were not allowed to run as members of the party.

The party is headed by the former Nagano governor Yasuo Tanaka, and includes Diet members Kōki Kobayashi ( deputy leader ), Takashi Aoyama, Makoto Taki, and Hiroyuki Arai, who left the Liberal Democratic Party in opposition to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi ’ s postal privatization drive.

In 2005 she gained attention by voicing opposition to the postal privatization proposal pushed by Prime Minister Koizumi, an issue which dominated headlines that year.

When asked about the future of the postal privatization bill, she expressed her hope that it will be stopped, adding ( in English ), " I don't know there will be political confusion, but one thing I can tell is, Mr. Koizumi is no longer dynamite.

On 24 April 2001, riding a wave of grassroots desire for change, maverick politician Junichiro Koizumi defeated former Prime Minister Hashimoto and other party stalwarts on a platform of economic and political reform.

Koizumi subsequently won this election, gaining the necessary supermajority and a mandate for reform, and in October 2005, the bill was passed to privatize Japan Post in 2007.

Although Koizumi did not initially campaign on the issue of defense reform, he approved the expansion of the Japan Self-Defense Forces ( JSDF ) and in October 2001 they were given greater scope to operate outside of the country.

Koizumi subsequently won this election, gaining the necessary supermajority and a mandate for reform, and in October 2005, the bill was passed to privatize Japan Post in 2007.

In October 2005 JH, the Metropolitan Expressway Public Corporation, the Hanshin Expressway Public Corporation, and the Honshū-Shikoku Bridge Authority ( managing three fixed-link connections between Honshū and Shikoku ) were privatized under the reform policies of the government of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

However, after Yamasaki and Kato were humiliated in a disastrous attempt to force a vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Yoshirō Mori in 2000, Koizumi became the last remaining credible member of the YKK trio, which gave him leverage over the reform-minded wing of the party.

However, in the first poll of prefectural party organizations, Koizumi won 87 to 11 percent ; in the second vote of Diet members, Koizumi won 51 to 40 percent.

It continues to explain that Mr. Koizumi is now close to getting a vote on a bill that will — eventually — turn it over to the private sector.

Koizumi had announced that a ' no ' vote would be considered equivalent to a no confidence vote against his administration, and thus called a snap election for the House of Representatives.

After the Upper House rejected privatization, Koizumi scheduled nationwide elections for September 11, 2005.

In the general elections of December 1972, Koizumi was elected as a member of the Lower House for the Kanagawa 11th district.

Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi and President of the United States | U. S. President George W. Bush meet at the White House on 25 September 2001

On October 11, 2003, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi dissolved the House of Representatives of the Diet after he was re-elected as the Liberal Democrat Party chief on September 20.

* Koizumi in the House – 1989

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi dissolved the House of Representatives and called for new elections on 8 August 2005.

Koizumi used the threat of an early election to push the bills through the House of Representatives ( the lower house ), where it was approved by just 5 votes.

" Koizumi Dissolves Lower House for Snap Election.

Koizumi calls the privatization a major part in his efforts to curb government spending and the growth of the national debt.

* 2005 – Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi apologizes for Japan's war record.

In 1994, with the LDP in opposition, Koizumi became part of a new LDP faction, Shinseiki, made up of younger and more motivated parliamentarians led by Taku Yamasaki, Koichi Kato and Koizumi, a group popularly dubbed " YKK " ( after the YKK Group well known for manufacturing zippers ).

In the fall of 2002, Koizumi appointed Keio University economist and frequent television commentator Heizō Takenaka as Minister of State for Financial Services and head of the Financial Services Agency ( FSA ) to fix the country's banking crisis.

In addition to the privatization of Japan Post ( which many rural residents fear will reduce their access to basic services such as banking ), Koizumi also slowed down the LDP's heavy subsidies for infrastructure and industrial development in rural areas.

* Fumio Koizumi Prize for ethnomusicology

Koizumi then presented these to Russian President Vladimir Putin, for each of his dogs ( Tosca, a standard Poodle, and Connie, a Labrador Retriever ), at ceremonies celebrating the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg.

The script of the game was written by series newcomer Kensuke Tanabe, while Yoshiaki Koizumi was responsible for the background story explained in the instruction manual.

Shigeru Miyamoto and Yoshiaki Koizumi came up with the story that served as the basis for the script written by Mitsuhiro Takano.

Kanno has also composed music for pop artists, the most notable being Maaya Sakamoto and Kyōko Koizumi.

Since Prime Minister Koizumi was unable to gain more seats for the LDP based upon his high approval ratings — around 60 % — some experts believe the election has left Koizumi a weakened Prime Minister while others point out that several of the Non-partisans were really of LDP, most notably ' Kato Koichi ' and LDP had in fact maintained the number of seats.

Koizumi was responsible for the main story of Link's Awakening, provided the idea of the island in a dream, and conceived the interactions with the villagers.

Kan was the first Prime Minister of Japan since the resignation of Junichiro Koizumi in 2006 to serve for more than 1 year, with predecessors Yukio Hatoyama, Tarō Asō, Yasuo Fukuda, and Shinzō Abe either resigning prematurely or losing an election.

Koizumi was given the Best Actress award at the 1989 Yokohama Film Festival for her work in the film Kaitō Ruby.

Koizumi assuming the presidency meant that for the first time since the 1985 privatization neither president nor chairman was from the ministry of finance.