In August 2011, Japan’s governing Democratic Party elected Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda to become the next prime minister, choosing a relative political unknown to lead the nation’s recovery from the March tsunami and nuclear accident and revive its moribund economy.
Mr. Noda replaced Naoto Kan, who was seen as having failed to galvanize Japan after the disaster. This is not to say that Mr. Noda is guaranteed to succeed in the enormous challenges facing him of overseeing Japan’s recovery from the earthquake and tsunami, including the clean-up of radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, and addressing the long-term problems of two decades of economic stagnation, an aging population and the rise of neighboring China.
Mr. Noda offers a departure from Mr. Kan on the crucial issue of the future of nuclear energy. While Mr. Kan called for ending what he called Japan’s dependence on nuclear power, Mr. Noda has followed the business community in saying that Japan needs nuclear power to prevent electrical shortages that could further cripple its economy.
In foreign affairs, Mr. Noda has said he would maintain close ties with Washington, and support an existing deal to keep the Futenma air base on Okinawa. While Mr. Noda is generally low-key in his public statements, he can be provocative, as with his recent comment that Japan’s A-class war criminals are not war criminals. This generated negative publicity, especially in South Korea and China.
The choice of Mr. Noda appeared to be an effort to overcome what has been the single most divisive issue within the party: the fate of the Democrats’ shadowy kingpin, Ichiro Ozawa, who faces trial in a political funding scandal. Though the party revoked Mr. Ozawa's voting rights, his influence helped cause a stalemate between two candidates — Seiji Maehara and Banri Kaieda. Mr. Noda emerged as a compromise candidate.
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