Japan prime minister promises to make the country ‘cheerful’

FLAMBOYANT conservative Taro Aso took charge as Japan’s new prime minister yesterday, pledging to work for a “cheerful” nation by reviving an economy in the doldrums.

The divided parliament voted along party lines to install the former foreign minister, who appointed a cabinet filled with fellow conservatives including pro-spending Shoichi Nakagawa as finance minister.

With elections expected within months, the comic book-loving Aso started the job with an unusually sombre tone. He said he would push for emergency measures to revive Asia’s largest economy, which contracted in the last quarter.

“To make Japan a cheerful and strong nation — that is my mission,” Aso said. “I truly feel the responsibility of being prime minister.”

“I am especially aware of people’s worries about the economy, complaints about their everyday lives and distrust of politics,” Aso said.

Aso replaced Yasuo Fukuda, a mild centrist whose ratings dived after he raised medical costs for the elderly.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) picked Aso on Monday as leader by an overwhelming majority, placing its trust in a crowd-pleasing — though gaffe-prone — campaigner.

Wasting no time, Aso is to fly today to New York for the UN General Assembly. US President George W Bush also telephoned Aso to “reaffirm the strength of the US-Japan alliance”, the White House said.

Aso said he would press to renew a naval mission backing US-led forces in Afghanistan. The opposition forced a halt to it last year, saying officially pacifist Japan should not be part of “American wars”.

“This is the responsibility of Japan as a member of the international community,” Aso said.

Analysts expect Aso to call a general election as early as late October in a bid to hold off gains by the rising opposition, which has pounded away at the LDP’s traditional strongholds in the countryside.

“The final battle has begun. The autumn of elections — the autumn to change the government — is coming,” said opposition chief Ichiro Ozawa, whose bloc controls one house of parliament.