"How are the noodles?" Japan's PM asks astronaut

Tokyo - Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi took a few minutes' break from a potentially devastating political battle over postal privatisation on Thursday to discuss noodles with a space shuttle astronaut.

In a live link-up with the Discovery, Koizumi chatted with Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi and shuttle commander Eileen Collins about various aspects of their mission, including an instant noodle dish specially developed for consumption in space.

"Mr Noguchi, I tried the space noodles, but how did they taste in space? Were they good?" Koizumi asked.

The dish of noodles in a jellified soup was jointly developed by Nissin Food Products Co. and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

"Space noodles were one of the things I was really looking forward to," Discovery's lead spacewalker Noguchi replied. "They were surprisingly close to the delicious taste of noodles on Earth," he added.

Koizumi told Collins he watched her on television every day and was extremely impressed.

"In every respect: ability, courage, patience and sense of duty, you are not a spacewoman, but a superwoman," he said.

Japan's political world is on tenterhooks over bills to privatise the country's postal system. Koizumi has threatened to call an election if the bills fail to pass the upper house in a vote expected next week. -- Reuters

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