Junichiro Koizumi's First Policy Speech

In his first speech to parliament, Japan's new Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi highlights the need for painful structural reform to revive the nation's feeble economy.

"We already have the prescription. What I need to do now is to be determined and to carry it into action," said Koizumi to members of the parliament.

Koizumi, who won a landslide victory last month, has become popular with voters who hope he will reform the battered economy. Wary foreign investors have also started to pour money back into the ailing Tokyo stock market.

In a bid to regain people’s trust in the administration, the new leader said the government will publish a "Koizumi cabinet e-mail magazine" to talk to the nation directly. In recent national newspaper polls, his support ratings topped 80 percent.

Views on the speech from Japan analysts