Junichiro Koizumi vs Ruhollah Khomeini

As prime minister, Koizumi made annual visits to Yasukuni Shrine, a Shinto shrine that honors Japan's war dead including convicted war criminals. The visits drew strong protests from China and South Korea, straining Japan's diplomatic relations in East Asia, while Koizumi defended them as a personal tribute to those who died for Japan.

Koizumi's government authorized the dispatch of Japanese Self-Defense Forces to Iraq for non-combat reconstruction and humanitarian aid, marking the first such deployment to a combat zone since World War II. The decision was controversial domestically and faced legal challenges, but was framed as supporting the US-led coalition.

Following his electoral victory, Koizumi's government passed a series of laws in October 2005 to privatize Japan Post, splitting it into four entities: postal service, banking, insurance, and a holding company. The reform aimed to increase efficiency and reduce the government's role in the financial sector, though implementation was later slowed.

After the upper house rejected his postal privatization bill, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi dissolved the lower house and called a snap election. He campaigned against his own party's rebels, winning a landslide victory and securing a mandate to privatize Japan Post, a major state-owned financial and postal service.

Khomeini was exiled from Iran after criticizing the Shah's White Revolution and granting of diplomatic immunity to US personnel. He settled in Najaf, Iraq, and later in France, where he continued to organize opposition to the Shah.

Khomeini led a popular revolution that overthrew the Shah's regime. He returned to Iran in February 1979 and established an Islamic Republic based on his doctrine of Velayat-e Faqih (Guardianship of the Jurist), with himself as Supreme Leader.

Khomeini supported the seizure of the US Embassy in Tehran by student militants, who held 52 American diplomats hostage for 444 days. The crisis deepened the rift with the US, led to economic sanctions, and consolidated Khomeini's power.

Khomeini led Iran through an eight-year war with Iraq, which began with an Iraqi invasion. The war resulted in hundreds of thousands of casualties and massive economic destruction, ending in a stalemate. Khomeini accepted a UN ceasefire in 1988.

Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for the death of author Salman Rushdie for his novel 'The Satanic Verses', which he deemed blasphemous. The fatwa led to international controversy, diplomatic tensions, and attacks on Rushdie's translators.