Junichiro Koizumi

Who is Junichiro Koizumi?

Junichiro Koizumi is a Japanese politician who was the 87th Prime Minister of Japan from 2001 to 2006. He retired from politics when his term in parliament ended in 2009, and was the fifth longest serving prime minister in the history of Japan.

Widely seen as a maverick leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, he became known as an economic reformer, focusing on Japan's government debt and the privatization of its postal service. In 2005, Koizumi led the LDP to win one of the largest parliamentary majorities in modern Japanese history. Koizumi also attracted international attention through his deployment of the Japan Self-Defense Forces to Iraq, and his visits to Yasukuni Shrine led to diplomatic tensions with neighboring China and South Korea.

Although Koizumi maintained a low profile for several years after leaving office, he returned to national attention in 2013 as an advocate for abandoning nuclear power in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, which contrasted with the pro-nuclear views espoused by the LDP governments both during and after Koizumi's term in office.