Just who is Yoshiro Mori? - Government Activity - International Pages - Brief Article

Business Asia, April 14, 2000 by Linda Sieg

Fresh from a routine health check, Japan's new Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori has engaged in a flurry of phone diplomacy as media pegged June as the month most likely for an early election.

Opposition parties and media are pressing Mori -- an old guard politician dubbed "Large-size Cold Pizza" by one Japanese paper -- for an early poll to validate his succession to the post inherited after predecessor Keizo Obuchi suffered a stroke.

Mori pledged in his debut speech to persist with policies outlined by Obuchi, once best known abroad by the "Cold Pizza" moniker given him by a US political commentator.

A rugby-playing political veteran known for his fancy footwork in squabbles within the party, Mori must tackle a hefty agenda including Japan's fragile economy, a rumbling volcano in the country's north and a gruelling diplomatic schedule, including a meeting late this month with Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin.

Vowing to ensure Japan's fragile recovery takes off, as well as to forge ahead with painful structural economic reforms, Mori pledged in his policy debut to make information technology a catalyst for growth. But critics say Mori's speech was long on rhetoric and short on content.

"We must not hesitate on reforms for the new era," said Mori, a party veteran who many experts doubt is the man to speed the transformation of Japan's stagnant "Old Economy" into a vibrant "New Economy" driven by high-tech risk-takers.

In a speech sprinkled with slogans such as "a nation of dreams and security" and "a beautiful nation of people with generous hearts", Mori pledged to carry out Obuchi's policies.

Among those measures are reform of a scandal-tainted police force and a post-war education system which, Mori said, gives insufficient respect to Japanese culture, tradition and ethics.

Japanese newspapers said LDP leaders were eyeing a June election to give Mori and his ruling coalition a stamp of approval before a July Group of Eight summit on the southern island of Okinawa.

Analysts say a good showing in opinion polls could encourage the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the biggest party in the three-way ruling camp, to risk an early judgment from voters who had been losing patience with a government plagued by scandals.

If so, an early election could be in the works.

A survey -- the first since Mori took office -- showed support for the LDP jumping a full 10 points to 39 per cent. The poll by conservative Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper also showed that 49 per cent of respondents hoped Mori would be an effective leader.

About 45 per cent said they had no such expectations.