Japan’s Ruling Party Elects Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, As Prime Minister

Japan’s ruling party chose the Minister of Finance Yoshihiko Noda its new CEO on Monday, paving the way for him to be the next prime minister, and has inherited the difficult task of recovering from a massive tsunami and the nuclear crisis.

Noda, 54, known as a fiscal conservative and has recently been struggling to slow the economy littered with the national debt and the yen wave record, which hurts Japanese exporters by making their products more expensive abroad.

As Prime Minister – Japan’s sixth five years – is to expand the area to continue the reconstruction of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami along the coast north and 100,000 people were displaced by nuclear radiation leakage damaged by the tsunami.

“We try to stay together with the sweat of the people,” he said after the vote. “This is my heartfelt wish.”

Noda will replace Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who announced his retirement Friday after nearly 15 months in office plagued by public discontent with the political conflict and its handling of disaster management.

Noda defeated Banri Kaieda of Commerce – which was supported by an influential party bosses behind the scenes – in the run-off election between 215-177 members of the party to the decision of Parliament, after none of the first five candidates received the majority in the first round. Noda will continue to become Prime Minister, because the Democrats control more powerful lower house of Parliament. His Cabinet is likely to be installed later this week.

After the vote, Noda said the three most pressing problems of the nations are recovering after the tsunami, ending the nuclear crisis and dealing with the strengthening of the yen and the deflationary pressure on Japan’s economy.

Noda came from behind to win the second round, getting 102 votes in the first round Kaieda 143. The result could be seen as a slap against the Ichizo Ozawa, an eminence grise of the parties tainted by scandals that have supported Kaieda.

Ozawa, a veteran of 69 years, who leads the largest group is the Democratic Party, is known for engineering the election by sending a Parliament beginners and condemning some of the candidates to win. And ‘involved in funding a political scandal, but his presence hangs like a shadow of the party leadership campaign.

They do not like Ozawa Kan Kan was one of the reasons is never achieved when the support of his party in power.

After the vote, called for party unity Noda, using the popular term for rugby in Japan refers to the tradition that when the game ends, there is no longer on opposite sides of the field.

Noda is a strong supporter of the Japan-US Security Alliance, which he called “the essential Japanese security and prosperity.” And praising China’s economic development, said the concerns about their growing military power.

Noda is not an elite background, many Japanese politicians. His father was a member of Self-Defense Force, the Japanese army. He began honing his political skills in a postgraduate institute for grooming a new generation of progressive leaders.

Before he went to a cabinet post, he was known to be standing at the stations in his district in Chiba, east of Tokyo, every morning to greet commuters personally.

As finance minister since June 2010, Noda was at war with the budgets and a strong yen, which hit a post-World War II high against the dollar earlier this month.

Noda was the most open among the candidates on the need to increase the tax of 5 percent of consumption to reduce the public deficit, which is twice the GDP, but toned down his speech to the tax elections. No change faster than expected in taxes, which would require parliamentary approval.

Many Japanese say the taxes should be raised eventually, as the cost of disaster recovery and social welfare of an aging society.

Noda also deal with a divided parliament, which increased impasse after the opposition took control of the upper house last summer.

Japan has undergone a rapid turnover of political leadership, which has undermined its ability to tackle serious problems. In the last five prime ministers took about a year, Khan has the longest, almost 15 months.

Kaieda is the third Democratic leader since the party rose to a landslide victory two years ago, dumping the long-ruling conservative Liberal Democratic Party, amid widespread hope for a change. These hopes were largely crushed in the middle of the disappointment of the public scandals and a lack of decisive leadership.

Tags: Aftermath of World War II, Democratic, Japan, Liberal Democratic Party, Naoto Kan, Prime minister, Two-round system, Yoshihiko Noda