Word: hosokawa
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...Clinton-Hosokawa bilateral was just one highlight of the conference, touted as being of historic importance. That was hyperbole, but not in almost 40 years had so many Asian and Pacific heads of state gathered in one place. And while no dramatic decisions were taken, U.S. officials constantly repeated the mantra that "the event is the message" -- the mere fact that nations representing 40% of the world's annual trade had got together was an assertion...
EVER SINCE HIS JULY ELECTION, KNOWing oddsmakers had doubted that Morihiro Hosokawa could keep his promise to write corruption out of the unofficial rulebook of Japanese politics. Two Prime Ministers before him, Kiichi Miyazawa and Toshiki Kaifu, lost the job trying to accomplish that feat, and the Diet was full of wily politicians determined that Hosokawa would fare no better. But the doubters underestimated the extent to which the scion of an aristocratic landowning family was a politician of a new stripe. Nor did the skeptics anticipate that Hosokawa's unprecedented popularity would give him the authority he needed...
When push came to shove last week, Hosokawa got his way and Japan got a new political course. For the Prime Minister it was no less an accomplishment than Bill Clinton's NAFTA victory -- and owed at least as much to his own will and assertiveness. After 121 hours of interparty talks, the leader of the three- month-old ruling coalition abandoned traditional consensus politics to force a vote over the opposition's objections on four pieces of legislation that would radically change Japan's electoral system. Liberal Democrats, still fumbling in their role as the largest opposition party, fumed...
...they did, as legislators filed forward to present small blocks of wood to the Diet clerk -- white for yes and green for no. When the tallies were added up, Hosokawa had won by a comfortable majority of 270 to 226, 10 more than the seven-party government's total strength. As Hosokawa watched with satisfaction, 13 Liberal Democratic legislators broke party ranks to vote with his program, and an additional seven braved the stern eye of party leader Yohei Kono to leave the floor and thus abstain from the balloting...
...reforms will bear fruit in elections that may be two years away, but the Diet victory will also help Hosokawa in important near-term ways. It should stiffen government resolve on another key promise: to break the collusive ties among the bureaucracy, business and politicians that are the essence of Japan, Inc. That onetime source of Japan's strength is now blamed for paralyzing Tokyo's ability to respond to trade conflicts with the U.S., improve the lives of consumers, or even help lift the still deepening recession. The government has already commissioned reports on economic deregulation and tax reform...