The Tōbu Main Line network has a tree topology starting at Asakusa Station in Tokyo, with the Isesaki line as the trunk, and the Tōbu Kameido Line, Daishi Line, Noda Line, Tōbu Sano Line, Koizumi Line, Tōbu Kiryū Line and Nikkō Line forming the branches, with further branches into the Tōbu Utsunomiya Line and Tōbu Kinugawa Lines.

Following the snap elections in which Koizumi won a mandate on privatization with the LDP gaining an overwhelming majority, Noda changed her stance.

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 had joined a secret poison gas research committee back in 1915, during World War I, when he and other Japanese army officers were impressed by the successful German use of chlorine gas at the second battle of Ypres, where the Allies suffered 15, 000 casualties as result of the chemical attack.

The DPJ also criticized the reforms proposed by Koizumi and the LDP ’ s sluggishness in their implementation, as well as the LDP's position on Iraq while steering clear on other foreign issues.

In addition, Kubota has composed and written songs for many singers including Iwasaki Hiromi, Misia, Toshinori Yonekura, Koizumi Kyoko, and many other recording artists.

It was founded in 1918 by Gunji Koizumi and initially offered tuition in jujutsu, kendo, and other Japanese arts.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi expressed his " deep remorse and heartfelt apology " for the suffering that Japan caused other Asian nations during World War II at the Asia-Africa Conference in Jakarta, Indonesia on April 22.

Moreover, the relationship between Japan and China deteriorated in early 2005, when Koizumi and other conservative Japanese politicians angered China through their visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, amongst other actions.

This privatization, spearheaded by Junichiro Koizumi, started in 2007 following generations of debate.

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

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

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.

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

As in many cases, the likely cause of the dissolution of the direct-hire situation draws back to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi who took a hard-line stance on privatization ( e. g. Japan Post ) and the idea of allowing local governments more flexibility in deciding how to spend their budgets.

Koizumi won a resounding victory, and the privatization bill was passed in the next session.

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

Challenged to explain this apparent U. S. government intervention in a domestic matter, Koizumi merely expressed his satisfaction that Takenaka had been befriended by such an important figure … It is hard to overestimate the scale of the opportunity offered to U. S. and global finance capital by the privatization of the Postal Savings System.

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.

Prime Minister Koizumi had tried to make the election a referendum on the privatization of Japan Post and reforms that follow, saying that he would step down if the ruling bloc fails to secure a majority.

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 11 October 2003, the Prime Minister Koizumi dissolved the lower house after he was re-elected as the president of the LDP.

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.

On 26 September 2006, new LDP President Shinzo Abe was elected by a special session of the Diet to succeed Junichiro Koizumi as Prime Minister.

Some observers still feel that Japan's willingness to deploy troops in support of current US operations in Iraq, as spearheaded by Koizumi and the conservative LDP, reflects a vow not to be excluded from the group of countries the US considers friends.

In 2005, Koizumi led the LDP to win one of the largest parliamentary majorities in modern Japanese history.

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 ).

On 24 April 2001, Koizumi was elected president of the LDP.

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 moved the LDP away from its traditional rural agrarian base toward a more urban, neoliberal core, as Japan's population grew in major cities and declined in less populated areas, although under current purely geographical districting, rural votes in Japan are still many times more powerful than urban ones.

* The faction was suppressed by Heisei Seisaku Kenkyukai and Kochikai from 1960 to 1990 but because of a failure of the Heisei Seisaku Kenkyukai and Kochikai leadership it led the LDP from 2002 to 2008, mainly under Junichiro Koizumi.

The move was widely seen as a blunt and effective attack by Junichiro Koizumi on the old guard LDP leadership.

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.

Although the LDP failed to secure a simple majority, on November 19, the Diet appointed Junichiro Koizumi the Prime Minister in its short special session and, within a month, the LDP regained a majority by absorbing the Conservative Party.

young LDP reformers, Taku Yamasaki and Jun ' ichirō Koizumi.

Jun ' ichirō Koizumi, the only member of YKK undamaged by the events of November 2001, finally gained control of the LDP.

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

In January 2005 Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi appointed a special panel composed of judges, university professors, and civil servants to study changes to the Imperial Household Law and to make recommendations to the government.

On January 20, 2006, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi devoted part of his annual keynote speech to the controversy, pledging to submit a bill allowing women to ascend the throne to ensure that the succession continues in the future in a stable manner.

Shortly after the announcement that Princess Kiko was pregnant with her third child, Koizumi suspended such plans.

However, shortly after the announcement that Princess Kiko was pregnant with her third child, the proposal to alter the Imperial Household Law was suspended by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

Koizumi was elected as Japan's 87th Prime Minister on 26 April 2001.

No prime minister except Koizumi had good public support.

" This was the among many historic steps led by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to strengthen global economic stability.

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.

As a parting gesture, outgoing PM Junichiro Koizumi wrote a tanka to thank his supporters.

Koizumi also attracted international attention through his deployment of the Japan Self-Defense Forces to Iraq.

Since 1972, Koizumi is the only Prime Minister to have served more than five years in office.

Koizumi is a third-generation politician.

His father, Junya Koizumi, was director general of the Japan Defense Agency and a member of the Diet.

See Koizumi family.

Born in Yokosuka, Kanagawa prefecture on 8 January 1942, Koizumi was educated at Yokosuka High School and Keio University, where he studied economics.