Blasts from the past

摘要

It may seem odd that the biggest political story in Tokyo is the decision by two pensioners with a collective age of 148 to come out of retirement. One of them, however, is Junichiro Koizumi. As prime minister in 2001-06 Mr Koizumi was that rarest of things: a Japanese leader with charisma, who left office on a popular high. Now he is back, trying to influence the race to run the world's biggest and wealthiest megalopolis. Mr Koizumi, or "Lionheart" as he was often known in office, has lost none of his flair. After years out of the limelight, he re-emerged last autumn to challenge the pro-nuclear policy of his party, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (ldp). He upped the ante this month by endorsing another former premier, Morihiro Hosokawa, in the election on February 9th for Tokyo governor-against the LDP-backed candidate. On January 22nd Mr Hosokawa declared his candidacy for governor.