(Image source: NHK)
BY KAREN CHEN
ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN
You're watching multisource politics news analysis from Newsy.
Japan’s ruling Democratic Party tabbed Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda as its new leader. Tuesday, Parliament selected him as prime minister -- the country’s sixth in just five years.
What kind of person is Noda? And will he have full public support to lead the Japanese nation?
According to Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun, Noda is a good speaker who has an affinity for watching combat sports like wrestling. Which might be appropriate -- given Japan’s financial situation.
“Noda took on the task of rebuilding the nation's finances and curbing the yen's sharp rise. Noda has been dubbed a puppet of the Finance Ministry by some, but is also rated highly for his peaceful and stable demeanor.”
Stable -- maybe.
Some are calling him -- a fiscal hawk.
Such was the headline of China’s Xinhua news agency.
And China’s use of the term -- hawk -- has more than one meaning.
The Wall Street Journal notes -- Chinese media seem to be caught up -- not in Noda’s fianancial accomplishments, but in his rhetoric about Japanese history.
“Raising the ire of nations such as China and South Korea, Mr. Noda earlier this month reiterated his view that Japan's wartime leaders, convicted at the international tribunal at the end of World War II, weren't criminals. ...in 2002, Mr. Noda said in a media interview that Japan should drop the section in its constitution that renounces the right to have military forces for war or settlement of international disputes.”
So -- is Noda a divider -- or a unifier? In his first speech as leader, CNN notes, Noda called for party unity to tackle Japan's massive problems.
"Running Japan's government is like pushing a giant snowball up a snowy, slippery hill," he said. "In times like this, we can't say, 'I don't like this person,' or 'I don't like that person.' The snowball will slide down."
That snowball -- has already picked up plenty of momentum -- with natural disasters and the global economic crisis propelling it downhill.
The Guardian notes, Mr. Noda faces a mountain of challenges: ongoing tsunami recovery, the nuclear crisis and a stagnant and struggling economy.
The Guardian wrote in its editorial:
“The political waters Mr Noda has to navigate are less clear. He emerged the winner of the two-day contest to find the next leader of the governing Democrat party through a process of attrition. He started off as the favourite neither of fellow parliamentarians nor the popular vote.”
Because of those obstacles -- some are already predicting a short tenure -- with an eye on the seventh Prime Minister. Euronews reports -- the Japanese parliament is hardly unified behind its new leader.
“With parliament divided, and some are predicting that the new leader will not last long.”
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