On 26 April 2001, Junichiro Koizumi emerged as the new prime minister of Japan, representing the public's desire for economic recovery through fundamental structural change in Japanese politics. More than two years have passed since then, and Japan has seen neither significant economic revival nor major changes in its political and administrative structures. People's expectation and faith in this henjin (“weirdo” as labeled by Former Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka) prime minister for rescuing Japan's economy has been greatly undermined as Japan's unemployment rate stays high and stock prices low. Japanese banks are performing poorly as usual, and bad loans seem to never go away or decrease in amount. Despite these seemingly critical shortcomings, however, Prime Minister Koizumi and his administration have maintained a high approval rate from the public.