JAPAN’S NEXT prime minister is a hawkish fiscal and foreign policy conservative who supports nuclear power and has defended the country’s second World War militarist leadership. He will replace Naoto Kan, who has been under withering fire for his government’s response to the March 11th earthquake and tsunami.
Finance minister Yoshihiko Noda (54) was elected head of the ruling Democrats yesterday after beating trade minister Banri Kaieda in a poll that exposed the party’s growing divisions.
The Democrats’ control of Japan’s more powerful lower house means Mr Noda will become the country’s sixth leader in five years today.
Yesterday he urged the party and the disaster-hit nation to “sweat together” with him as he works to bail Japan out of its worst crisis in decades. He faces the huge task of clearing up after the March quake and tsunami, ending the nuclear crisis in Fukushima and tackling the country’s enormous public debt.
Mr Noda became the latest Japanese politician to annoy other Asians this month when he denied that Japan’s wartime leaders were criminals. Questioned by reporters on August 15th, the anniversary of Japan’s surrender, Mr Noda refused to rule out a prime ministerial visit to Yasukuni Shrine, which honours the nation’s war dead, including 14 executed class-A war criminals.
The statements were condemned in China and South Korea, where one newspaper called them reminiscent of “ultra-rightist and militaristic elements”.
Mr Noda has warned about China’s growing military clout and strongly defended Japan’s half-century military alliance with the US, which he calls “essential for Japan’s security and prosperity”.
His position marks a clear break with his Democratic predecessor, Yukio Hatoyama, who favoured closer links with China and a more independent defence policy.
Yesterday’s election effectively terminates the Democrats’ left-leaning programme, which began two years ago after Mr Hatoyama ended more than half a century of virtual one-party rule by the conservative Liberal Democrats.
Mr Noda opposes large-scale welfare spending and wants to raise the consumption tax to pay for reconstruction. His foreign-policy pronouncements put him closer to the old Liberal Democrats.
Japanese voters are hoping for stable leadership after a string of short-lived prime ministers since 2006.
Mr Kan was the first leader in five years to last more than 12 months. The bickering and infighting that characterised his last months in office recalled for many the worst moments of the discredited Liberal Democrats.
The new prime minister’s first task will be uniting the divided ruling party, long dominated by a faction loyal to kingpin Ichiro Ozawa, one of its key architects.
Mr Ozawa backed Mr Noda’s rival, Banri Kaieda, who lost by 177 to 215 votes, raising the long-threatened spectre of the Democrats’ disintegration.
Mr Noda must also tackle the record-high strength of the yen, which is forcing many manufacturers to consider moving abroad.
Mr Noda has not backed Mr Kan’s call for a rethink of nuclear power and says the nation’s reactors must be restarted.
Yesterday Greenpeace called on the new leader to delay the opening of schools in Fukushima city this week after testing found high radiation levels from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in a preschool, high school and childcare centre.