No Favorite Emerges in Race for Japanese Premier

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Source: The New York Times

TOKYO — In the brief race to choose Japan’s next prime minister, five candidates vied Sunday for support within the governing Democratic Party, but none of them appeared to have a decisive lead going into Monday’s vote.

The campaign began on Friday after Prime Minister Naoto Kan announced his resignation. It has so far failed to grip the nation, which has had five prime ministers since Junichiro Koizumi stepped down in September 2006. Most of the current candidates are relative unknowns and seem to be short on concrete ideas for directing this rudderless country.

The winner of the party vote will face a host of daunting tasks. Foremost among them: rebuilding the earthquake- and tsunami-devastated northeast, mitigating the damage caused by the triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, and finding ways to pay for those efforts while halting the rise of the yen, reining in the ballooning national debt and ending two decades of economic malaise.

It could also be the last chance for the Democrats, who ended a half-century of virtual one-party rule by the Liberal Democrats two years ago with promises to revitalize Japan, only to flounder under the indecisive leadership of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama. His successor, Mr. Kan, was forced out over his perceived failure to lead an effective response to the triple disaster in March.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/29/world/asia/29japan.html