PM Koizumi is in a very small, elite club of people that can be called true friends of America. He's a fine man and Japan was lucky to have him.
Yes, the Japanese clearly recognized his value in his landslide victory last year.
This quote from Prime Minister after the attack on the World Trade Center I think is the most interesting that I have read:
Mr Green said: "Most world leaders, as you'd expect, expressed great sympathy, promised to cooperate with the United States. Koizumi was one of a small handful of world leaders who, on his own, decided and said to the President : 'This is a war on terror. This is not a law enforcement action. This is not a natural disaster. This is a war on terror of epic proportions'. And this was very much how Koizumi himself conveyed his thinking about this to the President. And he said 'You must prevail and Japan will help.'"
That's truly world class in my opinion.