Japan - Another Bush Supporter Re-elected

In another blow to the anti-war movement Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was re-elected by a landslide.

Howard, Blair and Koizumi are all staunch supporters of President Bush and like Bush, all were re-elected.

The anti-war movement is so dead in America that Jihad Jane canceled her bus tour.

Around the world the media are reporting on Koizumi's win and downplaying his support for Bush in Afghanistan and Iraq.

CNN doesn't even mention Bush or Afghanistan and barely mentions Iraq.

Aside from pushing pension reform, the Democrats oppose Japan's deployment of troops to Iraq and criticize Koizumi's controversial visits to the Yasukuni war shrine.

Likewise the BBC makes little mention of the connections.

They tried to tackle him on issues such as pension reform, his close ties to US President George W Bush and the presence of Japanese troops in Iraq.

Instapundit has this:

Even so, he remains one of the most popular prime ministers Japan has ever had, consistently receiving 50 percent or higher support in public opinion polls.

While pursuing reform at home, Koizumi is not likely to change his approach in foreign matters.

A strong backer of U.S. policy in Afghanistan and Iraq, he has dispatched non-combat troops to both areas. He also supports amending Japan's pacifist constitution to give the military more freedom to act overseas, although he said late Sunday he would not pursue that goal in his final year as prime minister.

Japan also is one of the United States' negotiating partners in the effort to disarm North Korea of its nuclear weapons.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------