Koizumi's team of assassins gets ready for the kill

Though his package of bills barely managed to slip through the lower house, a group of dissidents from his own party played a crucial role in killing the bills once they moved to the upper house for final approval. This prompted Koizumi to show that he is a man of extreme determination who never fails to stick to his words, and despite repeated requests from party stalwarts not to move ahead with what he said earlier, he wasted no time at all to dissolve the lower house and call a general election on September 11.

The prime minister of Japan, who traditionally also holds the leadership post of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, did not stop there. As a clear signal of his desire to wage a two-way battle against the usual opponents as well as party dissidents, he also declared that none of the 37 lower-house LDP members who voted against his favourite bills would be given nomination from the party in the upcoming election.

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For another 14 lower-house members who abstained, a strong guide-line was set to get written commitments from them that should they get nominations and be reelected, they would be duty-bound to vote for the implementation of postal reform bills when they are resubmitted to the lower house after the election. As a result, with the surrounding air getting heated up by the strong mood of revenge, the dissident members of the party suddenly found themselves being cornered and Koizumi gained valuable points in the first round of this tough battle as approval rating for his cabinet crossed the 50 percent mark after a relatively long interval.

But Koizumi knows perfectly well that winning the elections in Japan, particularly from rural constituencies, does not always depend on following the party line. Inheritance and clan allegiance is an important factor, particularly within the fold of LDP.

Koizumi himself, for example, is a third generation parliamentarian who inherited the semi-urban seat from his grandfather and father, both of whom were influential politicians of their time. As a result, for the second round of the battle, he was in need of new tactics and strategy that would allow him to extend the lead further against his newly emerged opponents.

And here he resorted to a new team of so called "assassins," whose members are now getting ready to start an all out revenge assault on behalf of Koizumi against former party stalwarts, most of whom are enjoying popular support in their long-held safe seats. Interestingly, the majority of Koizumi's "assassins" are women and none had any strong linkage with the world of politics until Koizumi hand-picked them to be candidates in those constituencies where party dissidents are getting ready to regain their seats.

The LDP has so far found 30 assassins to run against the rebels in the upcoming election. Of the 30, a number of names came as a total surprise to many in Japan, not only for them being unexpected political pawns pushed in the arena without any past political experience, but also for the attitude that some of them had shown in the process of being chosen as candidates to run for public office. Most prominent among them is definitely the 32-year old Internet service provider Takafumi Horie, who earlier this year rocked the media world of Japan by trying to take control of the Fuji Television Network Inc. through the radio broadcaster Nippon Broadcasting System.

Like all maverick entrepreneurs everywhere, Horie was quick enough to realise that as the political water in Japan is getting muddier day by day with voices of revenge and counter revenge filling the air around, it is probably the best time for him to reap the benefit as much as possible. He met senior LDP officials early last week to discuss about the possibility for him to run on the party ticket. But he later decided to have an audience with the leader of country's main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), also probably to work out how far the DPJ was keeping options open to serve his own goals.

After having discussions with the leadership of Japan's two major political parties, Horie eventually had an audience with Koizumi and finally decided to run as an independent candidate

at the Hiroshima constituency of one of the LDP rebel leaders, Shizuka Kamei. Koizumi promised him full LDP backing and it's not clear yet what else the prime minister committed, as he might have been willing to go up to any point since his hatred towards Kamei by now has become clear to everyone in Japan. Horie is now sailing in the wind of that hate politics and probably calculating what more this strange atmosphere might bring to him. It is interesting to note that when Horie got involved with his failed bid of taking control of Fuji Television, it was an LDP executive who denounced him for "trying to grab anything that money can buy." Now it seems everything, even the LDP as well, has started to drift towards his own way as the vision of leading politicians in Japan is increasingly becoming short sighted.

Soon after the lower house of the Japanese parliament was dissolved, Koizumi's aides and LDP executives have been wooing celebrities right and left. Besides Horie, the party has by now found a high-profile bureaucrat, a university professor, a cooking expert, an economist working for a well known think-tank, and a leader of Japan's Nursing Association. No doubt a few more names are to be added to the list in coming days as the official campaign period is to start on August 30.

With the single-minded aim of dislodging the self-created opponents from their positions of power, the leadership of the main ruling party of Japan might have been digging their own graves, as many crucial issues are simply being overlooked and voters are not being given a chance to express their opinions on anything else other than the postal reform bills.

Meanwhile, amid this confusing situation, ousted LDP rebels are also not sitting idly. They have already announced the formation of two different political parties and are trying hard to win over support from the rank and file of the party they until very recently belonged to. The whole situation might eventually further weaken the position of LDP, the political party that for last fifty years had been the main driving force in Japanese politics.