Japan's Reformer: Junichiro Koizumi has a radical plan to restructure the dysfunctional economy, but the new Prime Minister has only weeks to act. Does he have a fighting chance?

After anointing self-proclaimed reformer Junichiro Koizumi as Japan's new Prime Minister, the faithful of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party called a rally at party headquarters. Koizumi vowed to create a new LDP that "will stick out its chest and move strongly toward the future." Rich stuff, given that the LDP is a hornet's nest of factional intrigue and Koizumi himself could fall in a matter of months. By choosing Koizumi as Prime Minister, the LDP - or a big chunk of it, anyway - is trying to save its skin by selling the Japanese public on a policy shift toward true economic reform. Gone, its resident optimists will tell you, are the cushy contracts for political supporters and the bailouts that have been standard LDP operating procedure for decades. This policy about-face is risky: Many of the party's backers in industry dread the sting of reform and will do just about anything to avoid it. Koizumi faces many battles before he puts his program in play.