[4] Widely seen as a maverick leader of the LDP upon his election to the position in 2001, Koizumi became known as a neoliberal economic reformer, focusing on reducing Japan's government debt and the privatisation of its postal service.

Koizumi also attracted international attention through his deployment of the Japan Self-Defense Forces to Iraq, and through his visits to the Yasukuni Shrine that fueled diplomatic tensions with neighbouring China and South Korea.

However, after Yamasaki and Kato were humiliated in a disastrous attempt to force a vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Yoshirō Mori in 2000, Koizumi became the last remaining credible member of the YKK trio, which gave him leverage over the reform-minded wing of the party.

[8] He was made Prime Minister of Japan on 26 April, and his coalition secured 78 of 121 seats in the Upper House elections in July.

Within Japan, Koizumi pushed for new ways to revitalise the moribund economy, aiming to act against bad debts with commercial banks, privatize the postal savings system, and reorganize the factional structure of the LDP.

It planned a major reorganization of the central government, and shaped economic policy in cooperation with key cabinet members.

Many Japanese commentators indicated that the favorable US-Japan relation was based on the Koizumi's personal friendship with the US President George W. Bush.

White House officials described the first meeting between Koizumi and Bush at Camp David as "incredibly warm", with the two men playing catch with a baseball.

[14] Although Koizumi did not initially campaign on the issue of defense reform,[8] he approved the expansion of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) and in October 2001 they were given greater scope to operate outside of the country.

China and South Korea's people hold bitter memories of Japanese invasion and occupation during the first half of the 20th century.

In China, the visits contributed to widespread anti-Japanese riots, which were also accompanied by other more peaceful large anti-Japan demonstrations across East Asia.

[19] Eleven months after his resignation as prime minister, Koizumi revisited the shrine on 15 August 2007 to mark the 62nd anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II.

A few days before her dismissal, when she was filmed crying after a dispute with government officials, Koizumi generated controversy with his statement "tears are women's ultimate weapons".

Following an economic slump and a series of LDP scandals that claimed the career of YKK member Koichi Kato, by April Koizumi's popularity rating had fallen 30 percentage points since his nomination as prime minister.

Two visits to North Korea to solve the issue of abducted Japanese nationals only somewhat[citation needed] raised his popularity, as he could not secure several abductees' returns to Japan.

In the House of Councilors elections in 2004, the LDP performed only marginally[citation needed] better than the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), winning 32 more seats than the latter obtained.

The electorate saw the election in terms of a vote for or against reform of the postal service, which the Democratic Party and rebel LDP members were seen as being against.

In the following Diet session, the last to be held under Koizumi's government, the LDP passed 82 of its 91 proposed bills, including postal privatization.

Koizumi remained in the Diet through the administrations of Abe and Yasuo Fukuda, but announced his retirement from politics on 25 September 2008, shortly following the election of Taro Aso as prime minister.

[27] Since leaving office as prime minister, Koizumi has not granted a single request for an interview or television appearance, although he has given speeches and had private interactions with journalists.

[28] Koizumi returned to the national spotlight in October 2013, after seven years of largely avoiding attention, when he gave a speech to business executives in Nagoya in which he stated: "We should aim to be nuclear-free...

He recalled Japan's reconstruction in the wake of World War II and called for the country to "unite toward a dream of achieving a society based on renewable energy.

"[5] Koizumi had been a proponent of nuclear power throughout his term as prime minister, and was one of the first pro-nuclear politicians to change his stance on the issue in the wake of the Fukushima disaster of 2011.

His dramatic remarks were widely covered in the Japanese media, with some tabloids speculating that he may break away from the LDP to form a new party with his son Shinjiro.

[29] Koizumi defended his change of stance, stating in November that "it is overly optimistic and much more irresponsible to think nuclear power plants can be maintained just with the completion of disposal facilities... We had failed to secure sites for final disposal even before an accident occurred," concluding that "it's better to spend money on developing natural energy resources—citizens are more likely to agree with that idea—than using such large amounts of expenses and energy to advance such a feckless project [as nuclear power].

"[28] Koizumi reportedly approached Morihiro Hosokawa, who served as prime minister in an anti-LDP coalition cabinet in the 1990s, to run for Governor of Tokyo in the February 2014 gubernatorial election on the platform of opposing the Abe government's pro-nuclear policy.

[34] Koizumi traveled to the United States in 2016 in support of a lawsuit by Operation Tomodachi participants who claimed illness from radiation exposure caused by the Fukushima disaster.

The youngest son, Yoshinaga Miyamoto, now a graduate of Keio University, was born following the divorce[39] and did not meet Koizumi for many years.

On 8 September 2006, he and Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen visited the Sibelius' home, where Koizumi showed respect to the late composer with a moment of silence.

[51] His political career is parodied in a seinen manga, Mudazumo Naki Kaikaku, which re-interprets his life as a mahjong master.