Japan's parliament elected former Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda as the new prime minister on Tuesday — the country's sixth leader in five years.
A fiscal conservative, Noda faces a host of daunting problems, including the post-tsunami recovery and nuclear crisis, and a sluggish economy and the yen's surge, which hurts Japan's exporters.
Noda, who was elected Monday to head the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, succeeds the unpopular Naoto Kan, who officially resigned earlier Tuesday with his Cabinet after nearly 15 months in office.
Noda, 54, must seek to unify the fractious ruling party and restore public confidence in politics amid widespread disgust over squabbling in parliament and perceived lack of leadership in the wake of the triple disaster.He is a "moderate voice" in the ruling party, Sheila Smith, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, wrote in a comment. "He has a steady temperament and a reputation for fairness in a party where loyalties have been severely tested of late."
Given the pressing problems at home, Noda will likely focus on the disaster reconstruction and other domestic matters.
A staunch supporter of the U.S.-Japan security alliance, Noda has angered China and South Korea for comments about convicted wartime leaders revered at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, where the souls of all Japan's war dead are enshrined.
Earlier this month, he reiterated his claim that the wartime leaders had paid their debts and should no longer be seen as war criminals. He made similar comments in 2005.
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