[3] Koizumi had promised that if re-elected he would send the Self-Defence Forces to Iraq to assist with reconstruction before the end of the year, a pledge which proved unpopular during the election.

[4] One month into his second term, the cabinet approved the dispatch, and the SDF joined UN peacekeeping forces in Iraq in 2004, though this action continued to damage Koizumi's standing, with polls showing the public opposed.

[7] This policy was not only unpopular, but cost Koizumi a minister when Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda resigned after it was revealed he had failed to make his payments.

[10][11] The centrepiece of Koizumi's economic programme, which he referred to as the "inner citadel of reform", was his plan to privatize the postal service, then the world's largest bank with 2 trillion dollars' worth of assets.

[15] When the plan was subsequently rejected by the House of Councillors, Koizumi immediately dissolved the Diet and called a snap election for September 2005, refused to endorse the postal rebels, and pledged to resign unless his government was returned with a majority to implement the reform.