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Koizumi's Ex-Wife and Third Son Appeared on TV
A teen-ager separated by divorce from his famous father announces in a TV interview he wants a little paternal bonding.
The 18-year-old man was the youngest son of Japan's prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi.
The teen-ager says he's never even met his father, and saw him only once from afar. He doesn't use the father's last name.
Koizumi has built his political power on unprecedented popularity, and the media spotlight is moving into territory largely considered off-limits until now in Japan: the family life of a prime minister.
Besides the prime minister's third son, Yoshinaga Miyamoto, his ex-wife also has appeared in recent TV interviews, and another of his sons signed a contract last week with a talent agency.
If Koizumi is uncomfortable with his family's sudden exposure, he isn't showing it. After all, his appeal is founded in part on his longish hairstyle and his penchant for rock music.
But some say the media sideshow could become a political danger.
Koizumi has attracted exceptional media attention from the moment he was tapped for Japan's top job in April.
First is his divorce a novelty for a Japanese prime minister.
Koizumi split with his wife in 1982, almost five years after their marriage. He took custody of two of their boys; the third, born months after the split, was brought up by his ex-wife.
The prime minister has never met his youngest son, his ex-wife says, and she has never been reunited with her older children, who were raised by Koizumi's sisters.
Such total estrangement is common in Japan, where divorce still carries social stigma and the concept of visiting rights has yet to take root.
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