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Ellis Krauss Quoted On Japan's Next Prime Minister

Japan Candidates Disagree on Quake Rebuilding

08/28/2011
Sachiko Sakamaki, Bloomberg News

Japan’s ruling party today chooses Naoto Kan’s successor as prime minister following weekend debates that revealed differences over how to cover the costs of rebuilding from the March 11 earthquake and a nuclear meltdown.

The Democratic Party of Japan will elect its third leader since taking power two years ago after Kan announced his resignation last week, undone by public discontent with his handling of the disaster. Ex-Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara, who polls show is the public’s favorite, is vying with Trade Minister Banri Kaieda, Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, and two others to become the country’s sixth premier in five years.

The winner will inherit an economy already facing three straight quarters of contraction, and threatened by a surging currency and power supply challenges from the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami that killed almost 16,000 people. He will also have to restore public faith, with the DPJ having failed to live up to its campaign pledges to address the problems of an aging society and the world’s largest debt.

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Ellis Krauss is a leading expert on Japanese politics, U.S.-Japan relations, and Japan's political economy. In 2010 Cornell University Press will publish his latest book, co-authored with Robert Pekkanen of the University of Washington, The Rise and Fall of Japan's LDP: Political Party Organizations as Institutions.

He can provide commentary on domestic politics in Japan, the Japanese mass media, U.S.-Japan relations and Japan's foreign policy and role in Asia.

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