Japanese lawmakers reject postal reform bills, PM dissolves parliament News
Japanese lawmakers reject postal reform bills, PM dissolves parliament

[JURIST] Japan's House of Concilors [official website, English version], the upper house of the Japanese parliament, voted 125-108 Monday to defeat a plan by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi [Wikipedia profile; official website, English version] to privatize the nation's postal service [official website], Thirty members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party [political party website] either voted against or failed to vote on the plan. Koizumi, keeping to an earlier promise, called for elections following the defeat, pitting himself against rival Katsuya Okada of the Democratic Party of Japan [Wikipedia backgrounder; political party website, English version]]. AP has more.