The Japanese, unlike the Spanish, blamed the terrorists and not their government for the kidnappings. Bravo! "TOKYO: Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi marked his third anniversary in office boosted by a clean sweep for his ruling party in weekend by-elections in the run-up to national polls in July.

Although two of the contests had been expected to be close, Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was spared a voter backlash Monday either for sending troops to Iraq or for an ongoing battle over pension reform.