Right Leaning Taro Aso Voted in as Japan's New Prime Minister

AT&T Newswire ^ | 9-24-2008

[My Favorite Headache]

Ruling party leader Taro Aso was elected Japan's next prime minister Wednesday.

Aso, who was chosen president of the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Monday, had already begun piecing together a Cabinet expected to include a fellow outspoken hawk as finance chief.

The opposition-controlled upper house voted for Ichiro Ozawa, head of the Democratic Party of Japan, as prime minister. But the more powerful lower chamber voted to override that ballot in favor of Aso.

The right-leaning former foreign minister will confront a country wracked by political divisions and concerns over the economy, which has stalled in recent months amid the ballooning financial crisis in the United States.

[Vigilanteman]

I lived in Japan throughout the Clinton years. They've already rearmed. I was on a ferry to Hiroshima once which made a brief stop in one of their naval ports en route. There were Aegis class destroyers as far as the eye could see. They are just a bit shy about publicizing it.