IT IS rare in Japan to find one bold political leader, and even
rarer to find two. Yet since the start of the year, two men with
wildly different personalities, political styles and power bases
have launched daring projects that they hope will help shake
Japan out of its long economic funk. They may end up colliding
with each other.  The first is the prime minister, Yoshihiko
Noda. At the opening of the Diet, or parliament, on January
24th, he said he would present a bill by the end of March that
aims to double the consumption tax, to 10%. For well over a
decade, the political establishment has acknowledged the need
for an increase, but its nerve has failed it time and again,
despite a ballooning government debt and rising social-security
costs for an ageing population. Mr Noda is now gambling his
political life on such a tax rise. He also wants to slash the
number of Diet members from 480 in the lower house to 395, cut
the salaries of civil servants by 8%, and reduce their housing
benefits.  Any one of these