That the most notable characteristic of Japan's new Prime Minister is his haircut might not sound like a ringing endorsement. But in a country of copycat Brylcreemed coiffures, the Koizumi Perm is downright revolutionary: ample gray locks swirling high above his head and cascading down the back of his neck, brushing over his shirt collar. The rakish look of the tall, angular 59-year-old enhances his image as an iconoclast, a romantic lead actor storming the stage of Japan's crusty political establishment. As Toshiaki Okazaki, a 59-year-old whale-meat vendor, said while Koizumi campaigned near his stall in Kita-Kyushu recently: "So many of...
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