So have Taku Yamasaki, boss of the party's policy research council, and Yoshiro Mori, chairman of its executive council.

ECONOMIST: Crossed fingers

Mr Yamasaki is a potential Koizumi ally in the current Diet session, which is scheduled to close on June 19th.

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Aaron Swirsky, one of the architects who helped Minoru Yamasaki design the building, said the 1993 attack proved the design was sound.

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The trouble is that Mr Yamasaki and Mr Mori were alleged to have received large gifts of cash from the Osaka oil trader.

ECONOMIST: Crossed fingers

Optimists say Japan's economic reconstruction would accelerate dramatically if reformers such as Mr Kato and like-minded colleagues from other factions, including Mr Yamasaki and Junichiro Koizumi, a former health minister, could only get their act together.

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