Junichiro Koizumi

Former US president George W. Bush arrived in Japan on Tuesday on his first visit to the country since he left office, officials said. Wearing a dark suit, a smiling Bush waved to the media and travellers in Narita airport, before heading into Tokyo for a two-day visit at the invitation of a private-sector organisation, reports and airport officials said. Later Tuesday, after changing into a baseball windbreaker, Bush threw a ceremonial first pitch for the Japan Series between the Yomiuri Giants and Nippon Ham Fighters at Tokyo Dome. Among guests invited to the ceremony were former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, Japanese baseball legend ... Read Full Story

Former US president George W. Bush plans to visit Japan next week to meet former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, Kyodo News reported on Saturday. Bush is expected to make his first visit to Japan since he left office on Tuesday and Wednesday at the invitation of a private-sector organisation, Kyodo said, quoting Japanese and US sources. Bush is also expected to make a speech and watch a baseball game in Tokyo, the sources said. Koizumi, one of the nation's most popular premiers in modern times, had maintained cozy personal ties with Bush. Koizumi retired from politics earlier this year. Immediate confirmation of the report ... Read Full Story

Japan's former premier Junichiro Koizumi, known for crooning Elvis Presley songs while in office, is lending his voice to a superhero movie, reports said Tuesday. Lion-maned Koizumi, 67, has provided the voiceover for the extraterrestrial hero who fights not political opponents in the Diet legislature but monsters and aliens from outer space, according to the movie's producers. Koizumi, now retired from politics, used his offbeat charisma to rule Japan for more than five years until 2006, in contrast to his three conservative successors who each quit the post of prime minister within a year. While in office, Koizumi displayed his media savvy by singing ... Read Full Story

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - One of Japan's most popular leaders, former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, is going where few politicians have dared to go -- he's taking on the role of TV's masked superhero, Ultraman King. The 67-year-old Koizumi, a retired politician and a staunch Elvis Presley fan, recently lent his voice to the character of senior superhero Ultraman King, a respected leader of the Ultraman clan, for a new film. The red and silver-clad Ultraman is regarded as a cultural phenomenon in Japan, much like Superman and Spiderman. The popular television and film series are about extra-terrestrials that fight monsters and aliens. "We ... Read Full Story

In Japan's election on Sunday, the two candidates for the prime minister's post are carrying on a family battle that started in the 1950s when their grandfathers were premiers. The clash of the political blue bloods -- incumbent Taro Aso and his rival Yukio Hatoyama -- casts a spotlight on Japan's rich and powerful clans that have dominated, and some say stifled, post-war politics. About one third of Japan's parliamentarians are hereditary politicians -- often derided as "botchan" or "babies from rich families" -- who inherited their districts and fund-raising bodies from a relative, usually their father. In many areas, politics as a family ... Read Full Story