Raw Japan
Slices of Japanese business, politics and life
Japan’s next prime minister?
Japan’s finance minister, Kaoru Yosano, already has three key cabinet posts. Now some pundits say he looks well-placed to take the top job, too.
Public support for Prime Minister Taro Aso, suffering a slump after policy flip-flops and gaffes, took another hit when close ally Shoichi Nakagawa quit as finance minister last week after being forced to deny he was drunk at at G7 gathering in Rome.
Surveys also show his long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party is in danger of losing an election that must be held by October, making more and more ruling party lawmakers nervous about their own job security and looking for options.
“Yosano is the front-runner given the conditions at this juncture,” Sophia University professor Koichi Nakano says.
