Koizumi vows to continue reforms

Japan will push ahead with wide-ranging reforms and strengthen its relations with China and South Korea, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said today, in what may be his last annual policy speech to parliament.

Koizumi, who reiterated he would step down when his term ends in September, also called for more debate on changing Japan’s constitution, and said the government will submit a bill allowing a woman to ascend Japan’s imperial throne.