Japan’s latest PM vows to rebuild country

JAPAN’S premier-designate Yoshihiko Noda has vowed to provide a safe pair of hands in rebuilding the country from its tsunami-nuclear disasters after he was elected the ruling party chief.

The low-key, business-friendly finance minister is set to be confirmed as prime minister by parliament today, replacing the unpopular Naoto Kan to become the debt-laden nation’s sixth leader in five years.

Known as a fiscal hawk, 54-year-old Noda has described himself as an ordinary man and pledged a moderate politics, while also promising to unite his divided Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). Likening himself to a modest marine creature rather than a charismatic political star, Noda said in a final campaign appeal to DPJ lawmakers yesterday: “I am a loach. I can’t be a goldfish.”

His election may cause ripples among Japan’s neighbours following his recent comments on the country’s World War II history.

Noda sparked a strong response from South Korea weeks ago when he said on the anniversary of Japan’s 1945 surrender that Class-A war criminals convicted by an Allied tribunal were in fact not war criminals.

China’s state news agency, Xinhua, said diplomatic initiatives on his part “may be initially thwarted” because of the remarks.

In Japan, the focus is on the pressing tasks of rebuilding after the March 11 catastrophe, ending the Fukushima nuclear crisis, revitalising a stagnant economy and addressing the industrialised world’s largest public debt.

The country is struggling to resolve the Fukushima disaster after reactor meltdowns forced more than 80,000 people from their homes and contaminated wide stretches of farmland, causing national food scares.

On the economic front, years of pump-priming have left Japan saddled with a public debt that is more than twice the size of the economy and set to balloon further as a fast-ageing population increases welfare costs.

Last week, Moody’s cut Japan’s credit rating, citing the huge public debt and the country’s revolving-door politics that have delayed reforms to alleviate it.

Noda has advocated raising taxes rather than further borrowing to pay for quake reconstruction and to bring down the debt, which has made him the favourite of financial markets.

Noda yesterday noted that the debt and economic woes of the United States and Europe pose a threat for Japan, which has been overtaken as the world’s second-biggest economy by China.