Japan's Prime Minister riding high ahead of poll

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was riding high today in the homestretch of the campaign for weekend parliamentary elections, boosted by polls forecasting a comfortable win by the party that has ruled Japan for a half-century.

A triumph in the Sunday balloting for the Liberal Democratic Party would be a personal victory for Koizumi, who has put his job on the line by making the vote a referendum on his two-decade quest to privatise Japan’s mammoth postal service.