It's a simple question, and that question has penetrated the minds of voters.

Formally speaking, nothing has changed at the end of the day. But beneath the superficial format, rather clear-cut changes are under way.

Koizumi played a very clever game by kicking out the anti- reformers. His political success is so crucial to getting things done that foreign investors have good reason to see him as a symbol for change.

It is really astonishing for many people. It is completely out of Japanese culture. You don't assassinate your friends.