Noda to be new Prime minister of Japan

TOKYO (Reuters) - Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda was chosen on Monday to become Japan's sixth prime minister in five years, but has to overcome a divided parliament and deep rifts in the ruling party if he is to make more of a mark than his predecessors.
Noda is considered a safe pair of hands to lead the world's third-biggest economy but doubts run deep as to whether he will have sufficient support and stay in office long enough to tackle a long list of economic woes and cope with a nuclear crisis.
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I asked some of my Japanese friends, but lots of them have almost never heard about him and don't really care either.
All I know is that he wants to raise taxes, and that he is not making friends with the neighborhood countries with his opinion about A-Class war criminals.

he does not believe that the Class-A War Criminals, convicted in Japan in the years immediately after WWII, are war criminals under Japanese law.

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The question will probably be: How long will he stay in this position before they want him out, or he wants to get out?

Theoretically new PM Noda will be able to hold the position until Sep 2012 (next year). It is because a leader election is to be held every 2 year according to DPJ's rule and the last offical DPJ leader election was held in Sep 2010. This time election among DPJ congressmen was irregular case, not offical.

However, problem is the DPJ leader election, which is conducted by voters of congressmen as well as local members of the party. Although weightiness of voter is different, voters with foreign nationality are entitled to become the party member. This means ... foreigners can elect a prime minister of Japan, while a mojority of Japanese voters cannot. In a way, DPJ is ruled by foreigners.

Meanhwile, the honour of A-Class war criminals (according to at the Tokyo Tribunal of War Criminals) was restored by Japan's Parliament once Japan restored its sovereignty after the so-called San Francisco treaty in 1952. So it is not a issue in Japan.

Except for the fact that they're still war criminals.

It does not mean much to be Prime Minister here, I mean every man and his dog has had a go at it.