NAOTO KAN, a straight-talking grassroots campaigner from humble beginnings who rose to become one of Japan’s most popular politicians, has been elected the country’s new prime minister.
Japan’s parliament voted Mr Kan (63) into office yesterday hours after he took over as president of the ruling Democratic Party (DPJ) from Yukio Hayotama, who abruptly quit this week.
“My responsibility . . . is to rebuild this country as its prime minister,” Mr Kan said after the DPJ vote. The former finance minister and DPJ co-founder has pledged to reenergise his liberal-left party, which has squandered its once huge popularity since ending over half a century of conservative rule last September.
Mr Kan, who has a reputation for fighting bureaucracy, faces a long list of pressing problems, including a growing fiscal crisis, a two-decade economic slump and strained ties with Washington over a controversial US base. Observers warned last night, however, that his first battle could be with his own party, which looks increasingly divided.
Japan’s main opposition Liberal Democrats (LDP) said yesterday that the election had changed the DPJ cover but not the book. “Mr Kan was in the Hatoyama cabinet, which abandoned the government, said LDP leader Sadakazu Tanigaki. “He is tainted by that association.” The Hatoyama cabinet quit en masse yesterday morning in a bid to boost the government’s flagging fortunes ahead of a general election next month. Mr Kan will appoint his new ministers next week with junior coalition partner the People’s New Party.
As Japan’s fifth prime minister since 2006 and someone who fought his way to the country’s top political job rather than inheriting it, many voters are hoping that Mr Kan will finally end a tradition of conveyor-belt leaders. But his reputation as a clean politician who wants to change how government works could rest on an early battle with DPJ kingpin Ichiro Ozawa.
Dubbed the “shadow shogun”, he controls by far the largest faction of lawmakers in the DPJ.
Mr Kan must also quickly get to grips with the toxic issue that derailed Mr Hatoyama’s government – the relocation of a US base on Okinawa. Having watched his predecessor make, then break, a promise to shift the base off the island, the more pragmatic Mr Kan is likely to paint himself into he same corner – but he will have to face down a growing anti-base movement.
Fiscally conservative, he has warned that Japan could follow Greece to financial ruin if it doesn’t bring its huge public deficit – fast approaching 200 percent of GDP – under control. But many analysts doubt he will have the political courage to raise taxes and cut spending ahead of upper house elections in July, the new government’s first big test.