Question:
TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was set to travel to the United States on Tuesday for talks with President George W. Bush on North Korean moves to launch a missile, plus terrorism, security and the economy.
Koizumi will be in the United States from Wednesday to Friday, with his Washington visit scheduled for Thursday. Bush also planned to take Koizumi, a big-time Elvis Presley fan, to the southern U.S. city of Memphis for a pilgrimage to late pop star's Graceland estate on Friday.
North Korea's suspected preparations to test-fire a long-range missile was expected to top the agenda. The two leaders also were expected to urge Pyongyang to abandon nuclear ambitions and return to six-party nuclear disarmament talks.
Recent intelligence reports have said North Korea may be fueling a Taepodong-2, one of its most advanced missiles, at a launch site on the country's northeastern coast. The missile is believed to be capable of reaching parts of the United States.
Japan's Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi indicated Monday that Koizumi and Bush were expected to agree to press North Korea to immediately abort preparations for a missile launch, Kyodo News agency reported.
The trip will be Koizumi's last to the United States as prime minister. Koizumi is stepping down in September, and the Memphis tour is apparently Bush's farewell gift for him.
Japan is America's top ally in Asia and about 50,000 U.S. troops are stationed across Japan. Koizumi has also been a strong supporter of the U.S.-led 2003 invasion of Iraq and sent Japanese troops there in 2004 on a non-combat, humanitarian mission.
Koizumi will also visit Canada en route to Washington for talks with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and a brief visit to Niagara Falls.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/06/2...s.ap/index.html
Answer:
Koizumi to Make Farewell White House Visit
By JOSEPH COLEMAN
TOKYO (AP) - Crooning an Elvis Presley song to President Bush, or waltzing with Richard Gere for the cameras, Junichiro Koizumi has been a Japanese prime minister like no other. Yet image-conscious though he may be, this is no lightweight.
Koizumi, who arrives in Washington this week on a farewell visit before his five-year term ends in September, has left lasting fingerprints on everything from Japan's relationship with the U.S. through its attitude to World War II to the workings of its vast bureaucracy.
His impact has been huge, says Tsuneo Watanabe, a senior fellow at the Mitsui Global Strategic Studies Institute in Tokyo. He's a master of appealing to the public and utilizing public support.
Both sides of Koizumi will be on show when he visits Bush, his friend and ally, at the White House on Thursday, then joins him on a visit to Presley's Graceland mansion.
But as the 64-year-old prime minister prepares his goodbyes, Japan is also grappling with the downside of his tenure.
His repeated visits to the Yasukuni war shrine - which honors war criminals among millions of fallen soldiers - have driven ties with China and South Korea to their lowest point in decades. Many of his reform measures have yet to take full root.
Some are wondering how Japan's next leader will handle this legacy.
Does Koizumi's successor intend to mend relations with China and South Korea, which inexorably deteriorated under Koizumi because of his repeated visits to Yasukuni Shrine? the Asahi newspaper asked in an editorial last week. What sort of strategy is envisioned for Japan in fast-evolving Asia?
This week, at least, will showcase what Koizumi has done for the U.S.-Japan alliance.
Like no leader before him, Koizumi has sped Tokyo's transformation from pacifist U.S. understudy to active, dependable Asian partner: He supports post-Sept. 11 U.S. foreign policy, sent troops to Iraq over domestic opposition, and backs a militarily more assertive Japan.
The Japanese call it Koizumi Theater - passionate about music, boyishly charming, impetuously sweeping up actor Gere in a brief waltz, serenading Bush with I Want You, I Need You, I Love You.
When I've been with Koizumi, I can see why the president would like him, and why they would strike up a friendship, U.S. Ambassador Thomas Schieffer said recently. He has a great wit about him.
When Koizumi came to power in 2001, it was as a reformist outsider, instantly recognizable by his Beatle-ish mane of graying hair. It was a remarkable pose for a political blue-blood whose grandfather was a cabinet minister and whose father headed the defense agency.
He inherited a ruling Liberal Democratic Party on the verge of collapse and remade Japanese politics: The LDP is now at its strongest in decades, the power of the bureaucracy has been diluted, and the prime minister now goes over the heads of the party power brokers to appeal directly to voters.
Confronted with a laggardly economy, Koizumi has pushed to slash public works projects, trim government and take on state monopolies, notably the $3 trillion postal savings and insurance system.
He's raised expectations that the Japanese prime minister should be a cool guy whom the world pays attention to and who can speak to the public in an easily understandable way, and isn't afraid of taking risk, said Gerald Curtis, a Japanese politics specialist at Columbia University.
Taking risk is putting it mildly.
When his postal reform measure was defeated in parliament last year, he struck back by dissolving parliament, excommunicating opponents in his party and calling elections for the powerful lower house. Voters responded by giving the LDP a landslide victory.
But the results have been mixed, and his legacy is uncertain.
Relations with Japan's neighbors are in disarray. During his tenure conservatives have managed to rewrite some wartime Japanese history in school textbooks, compounding the hurt engendered by Koizumi's shrine visits. Critics see a shift toward tacit approval of the imperialist policies of the first half of the 20th century, when Japan colonized Korea and invaded China.
His attack on pork-barrel construction projects has had only patchy success, and the postal reforms, essential to getting the economy into shape, won't take full effect for another decade.
Some say it might be time for a more settled personality to take center stage.
After a very attractive leader, said Watanabe, probably a bit of a boring but stable leader may be welcomed.
http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20060627/D8IGNRRO1.html
