Koizumi and his young Padawan
Exit Koizumi, Japan's Relentless Jedi Knight
By Anthony Faiola
Sunday, September 24, 2006; B03
In Japan, the wa surrounds you. You can feel it in the priciest sushi bars and lowliest noodle parlors. Call it the particular Japanese way of looking at the world; of harmony, of collectiveness with a do-not-rock-the-boat spirit. In the mythology of "Star Wars" movies, the wa is like the Force. To mess with the wa is a cardinal sin.
Junichiro Koizumi messed with the wa .
But perhaps the most surprising thing about the man who will exit the political stage next week as Japan's most important postwar prime minister is that when he messed with the wa, most Japanese discovered a shocking truth: Maybe the wa needed to be messed with.
....more here
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/22/AR2006092201285_pf.html
This piece was located in the Sunday opinion section of The Washington Post, which probably explains some of the zeal in the writing.
