Hosokawa's fatal flaw

YESTERDAY'S resignation of the Japanese Prime Minister, Morihiro Hosokawa, puts a sad and early end to a promising but flawed political career. It plunges Japan further into crisis just when the country needs real leadership. Mr Hosokawa brought a breath of fresh air and fresh thinking into the stultifying and corruptive atmosphere of government: he promised electoral reform, strong economic medicine and most attractive of all, clean government.

Instead, he has been forced out of office with much of what he promised left undone, his own reputation in tatters and little to show for it but a floundering coalition and a wake strewn with anaemic compromises. His government has been unable to function or push its budget through parliament for a month.

Glee that a man once seen as Japan's Mr Clean should now have been hoist by his own petard would be misplaced. Few of his accusers are without sin: all came up through a system that encouraged corruption. It is probably fair to say that Mr Hosokawa was tarnished by the system he tried to change. More important, however, are the challenges facing his successors and former cabinet colleagues.

The first - short term - battle will be to keep Mr Hosokawa's fractious ruling coalition together. The range of conflicting political opinion and conviction within his government was as much to blame for his downfall as his past corruption. Opposition from his Socialist Party partners, for instance, forced him into compromises on constitutional reform which undermined his credibility as the man to change the face of Japanese politics.

With no sense of direction and conflicting demands on a future leader, the coalition must work hard to survive. Given its weakness so far it will be hard-pressed to do so without the murky deal-making in smoke-filled rooms that was the hallmark of the old regime. Yet unless it can present a firm and united front, there is a real danger the reform process will slip into reverse, and Mr Hosokawa's efforts will have been wasted.

The longer term challenge is to make backsliding impossible. That will mean taking forward the process of reform Mr Hosokawa and his partners began. To do so the coalition will need to revive the public's flagging belief in the ability of new leaders to deliver what the old-style politicians failed to achieve. They must show leadership of their own - a commodity in short supply in Japanese political circles - and regain the initiative Mr Hosokawa lost.