Democracy in Japan Part two of Ampontan's discussion of Japanese prime ministers, and Junichiro Koizumi in particular, is up. (Part one is here, and here's where I linked to it.) A tantalizing tidbit:

Has the prime minister of any other country chosen not to hold an election because his party was sure to be successful in that election? Yet that was exactly Koizumi's predicament.

The article has a fantastic conclusion, and this two-parter has made me simultaneously wish Koizumi wasn't stepping down next year, and understand why he's doing it.

It would seem, based on Ampontan's evaluation, that Koizumi simply loves democracy.