Here's a snippet from a recent essay I translated by Japanese political commentator Minoru Morita:

Mao's Cultural Revolution brought about the huge fantasy of Mao-style Communism, and the Chinese people joined in the dance of social destruction. The Koizumi Cultural Revolution's goal was to Americanize Japan. Or more precisely, it was to bring about Republican-style Americanization of Japan.

The true leader of the Koizumi Cultural Revolution was US President George W. Bush. Koizumi tried to remodel Japan into a country that embraced Bush's Republican-style politics. The former prime minister was supported in his efforts by the Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito, government officials, the financial sector and the mass media.

In my view, Koizumi was the most irresponsible and frivolous prime minister in Japan's postwar history. The former premier took a stable Japan and destroyed it; and after it had collapsed, he simply walked away. Now the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is left to shoulder the giant burden left behind by Koizumi politics.

For the Abe Cabinet to reverse Koizumi's burdensome legacy, it needs to repudiate the very politics that brought the legacy about. But the Abe Cabinet can't do this because Abe's political power was created by Koizumi, and the new prime minister is seen as Koizumi's successor.

Prime Minister Abe's stance is similar to that of Taira no Shigemori, son of Taira no Kiyomori, as recorded in Rai San’yō's Nihon Gaishi (An Unofficial Japanese History): "If I obey my father, I can't be loyal (to my country); but if I am loyal, I can't obey my father." If Abe is loyal to the people of Japan, he can't possibly continue with the policies fathered by Koizumi. But if Abe decides to break with Koizumi, he would take a beating from a mass media that still foolishly supports the path set by the former prime minister, and inevitably, Abe's support would dwindle. The Abe administration is caught between loyalty to the country and duty to its "father," Koizumi.

I love this job. For more of his columns, check out the Morita Research Institute website and click where it says "Minoru Morita Unravels Japan."