1. In the fall of 2004, Dr. Alisa Gaunder, myself, and four other Southwestern students submitted a proposal to ASIANetwork to conduct research on political leadership in Tokyo, Japan. In February of 2005, we obtained notification that we had received the grant totaling $32,000 to conduct our research. Once arriving in Tokyo, we spent three weeks in Tokyo, Japan researching political leadership from various perspectives. The team set up a total of 15 interviews with academics and politicians. We met with the primary subject of two of my colleague’s students' research projects-Doi Takako, the first female party head and speaker of the Lower House in the Japanese Diet and Hatoyama Yukio, co-founder of the Democratic Party of Japan and former party head. We interviewed five other sitting politicians including Moriyama Mayumi, former Justice Minister the Koizumi cabinet and Fukushima Mizuho, current head of the Social Democratic Party. A life changing experience: Japan has always been a country that has fascinated me. My love and interest in Japan started at a young age through the martial arts. As I have gotten older my attraction has grown to include many other facets of Japanese society, especially the political culture. This trip allowed me to tie both of my passions together. My research focused on Prime Minister Koizumi and his effectiveness in regards to foreign policy. By interviewing both politicians from several parties and international relations professors, I gained an incredible insight into Japanese foreign policy. Another key piece of our research was discussions with a political science class from Sophia University who held class seminars to address each of our topics. When our research and interviews were finished, I spent my free time searching Japan for museums and martial arts demonstrations. One major impression left by this trip is that it will not be the last. Domestic strains have proven extremely difficult for many Japanese Prime Ministers, including Koizumi. One of the key institutional limitations on Koizumi is his limited power to set policy initiatives that do not align with his LDP party. He has continued to claim his separation from the LDP party in the media, but in actuality these inner party bureaus that establish the majority of policy limit him. One of the largest policy initiatives by the LDP is dealing with the steep recession that Japan has been locked in for nearly two decades now. Koizumi has used the recession to fuel his call for increased international competition to stimulate the economy as well as promote a more global Japan on world affairs but as is apparent the Japanese economy has remained stagnant. Koizumi’s constant reliance behind the scenes on LDP policy issues will cripple his opportunities to establish not only his own foreign policy but also policy in general. Koizumi has taken steps to separate himself from the party by establishing his own cabinet. This cabinet was different than those in the past because of Koizumi’s relative freedom due to his overwhelming popularity in local elections. This cabinet serves as his own personal bureaucracy that reports to him, which some claim eliminates his dependence on the government bureaucracy as well as LDP policy committees. While he may have extracted himself from the LDP somewhat in regards to policy control, he has not beaten the constraint of the bureaucracy. This claim for a security seat was initiated not by Koizumi, but by the bureaucracy. The bureaucracy decides policy initiatives and passes them on to the Prime Minister’s cabinet, excluding the cabinet from some aspects of decision making. This severely limits the cabinet and Prime Minister from taking active roles in developing and fine tuning policy before it runs through several bureaucratic agencies. Koizumi does have the power to check the bureaucracy due to the Cabinet Law passed in 2001. Koizumi has the largest amount of power since the beginning of the Post War period, yet he has not taken the reigns or effectively established his own leadership. The bureaucracy still largely handles all information that flows in and out of the Cabinet. Upon entering office Koizumi campaigned on reform and the ability to look past his own party and take the steps necessary to put Japan back on track. Koizumi’s principal goal when he entered office was to gain a seat on the United Nations Security Council. This year the U.N. secretary general has reported there are two options viable, yet only one which Koizumi is hoping for. This option calls for the entry of six new spots being created on the council. This is Japan’s first viable opportunity to join the U.N. Security Council that now consists of the United States, Britain, France, Russia, and China. However there is staunch protest throughout Asia against Japan’s admittance. The U.N. Security Council was established at the end of World War II as a means of stopping such similar conflicts and two of the countries now petitioning for entry were the enemies at that time. Many countries including China, South and North Korea, as well as Taiwan are leading protests as well against the Japanese because of their controversial past. Japan has repeatedly released controversial textbooks that perceive Japan’s imperialist past as well as atrocities in World War II in a different light than the rest of the world. This has led to the backlash Japan has felt in the past few months with their hopes for gaining a seat on the United Nations Security Council. Koizumi has yet to design a large strategic plan to gain the seat, but has pointed to the role of Japan’s economy in the U.N. as Japan’s legitimacy for gaining a seat. While Japan does contribute a significant sum to the U.N., Koizumi has provided little else in terms of reasons for Japan being added to the council. In the past few months, Koizumi has gone even farther in deepening the improbability for their chances in settling the relationship with China by stating his intentions to visiting the controversial Yasukuni Shrine. The shrine serves as a war memorial for the fallen soldiers of Japan, including men convicted of war crimes from World War II. This has been the key to huge demonstrations in both China and North Korea. Koizumi’s repeated a statement about visiting the site has enraged many in the region and has served to further the separation between Japan and the rest of Asia.