New PM fiscal hawk

Noda, a 54-year-old fiscal hawk who wants to curb Japan's huge public debt, has been voted in as prime minister by parliament after being elected head of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) in a bruising run-off on Monday.

Noda's immediate task will be to select lawmakers to fill the DPJ's top executive posts, including the key position of secretary-general, the party's second-in-command. It is not clear how soon Noda will form his cabinet and when he will be formally appointed prime minister by Emperor Akihito.

Divided party

The former finance minister, Noda succeeds the unpopular Naoto Kan, who resigned on August 26 after a tumultuous 15 months in office, during which he was sometimes opposed by members of his own party. Kan had been particularly pressured to resign by the influential DPJ powerbroker and scandal-embroiled Ichizo Ozawa, along with former Prime Minister Hatoyama, whose candidate for party leader, Kaieda, ended up losing in the final race.

Noda was not the most popular of candidates nor did he have the strongest support base inside the party. Two years after sweeping to power, the party remains divided by personal feuds and policy disputes despite promises to change how Japan is governed. One of Noda's biggest tasks as party leader and as prime minister will now be to unify his party.

A lot to manage

The other challenges he faces are legion: coping with a strong yen that threatens to undermine exports, forging a new energy policy while ending a crisis at the crippled Daiichi nuclear power plant, rebuilding Japan's tsunami-devastated northeast and finding funds to pay for it and bulging social security costs in the ageing society.

Noda repeated his call for "prudent fiscal management" on Tuesday at a final news conference. "I am aware of the problems of the strong yen and deflation. But at the same time, we need to maintain fiscal discipline," he said.

Some optimists say the low-key Noda may be the best bet for Japan now given all the hurdles to governing. Many pundits, however, are already predicting that Noda may well end up the latest of Japan's revolving door leaders.

No Japanese premier has lasted much longer than a year since 2006, when the charismatic Junichiro Koizumi ended a rare five-year term.

Conservative views

Noda is a graduate of the prestigious Waseda University's School of Political Science and Economics. He entered national politics in his mid-30s with the short-lived Japan New Party of Morihiro Hosokawa, who later became prime minister. The son of a paratrooper in the Self-Defense Forces, Noda, a married father of two, holds broadly conservative political views.

He has angered China and neighbor South Korea over past 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, on the anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender, Noda 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.

Author: Sarah Berning (AP, AFP, Reuters)
Editor: Manasi Gopalakrishnan