I can't say I'm all that happy about Koizumi's victory, since under him relations between Japan and and its neighbours have been at their most strained in decades. Okada was actively calling for a change in foreign policy and an improved relationship with Korea and China.
I wonder who will replace Okada as DPJ leader...
Makiko Tanaka, perhaps? Now there's something I'd pay to see; it would be poetic justice if she could beat her old boss Koizumi and replace him as PM. Besides, if there's anyone who can win an election for the DPJ and additionally become Japan's first ever female PM (in what is still a highly patriarchal country) it's her.
