Junichiro Koizumi, Japan's prime minister, said he wanted a mandate for reform. Now he has got it. His Liberal Democratic party's stunning electoral victory leaves him in a position of commanding strength, just as the economy is finally emerging from a decade of deflation. No Japanese leader in living memory has been as well-placed to impose his agenda on the nation.

Mr Koizumi's first priority will doubtless be to push through post office privatisation. Ideally, he should redraft the cumbersome bill, which bears the scars of political compromises. However, since he made it the centrepiece of his election campaign, he may be reluctant to go back on it.