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PROFILE: Noda, backer of tax hike, to fight uphill battle in DPJ race(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) TOKYO, Aug. 27 -- (Kyodo) _ Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, a staunch supporter of tax hikes to address Japan's deteriorating public finances, will face an uphill battle to become the president of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and the nation's new prime minister. Given the possibility that he may be the only candidate to press for increasing the burden on taxpayers, Noda, 54, is described cynically as "the official candidate from the Finance Ministry," the most powerful office in Japanese bureaucracy that pursues as a critical goal restoring the country's fiscal health, the worst among major developed economies. Starting his political career as a member of the Chiba prefectural assembly in 1987, Noda won his first Diet seat as a member of the now-defunct Japan New Party in 1993. He lost the House of Representatives seat in 1996 before returning to national politics in 2000 on the DPJ ticket. He became finance minister in June 2010, succeeding Naoto Kan, the outgoing prime minister who also pushed ahead with higher taxes to keep covering swelling welfare costs in Japan, where the population is aging rapidly. A man of few words, Noda had kept refusing to clearly declare his intention to run as a candidate to replace Kan -- this time as prime minister -- even after the incumbent expressed in June his intention to step down. Noda finally announced his candidacy on Friday afternoon. The minister earlier kept saying he "has work to do as a Cabinet member," despite the then prevailing view that he would become the next prime minister. The once leading candidate is now lagging seriously behind other DPJ members who have declared their bids for the party presidency, including former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara, from whom Noda had called for support in vain. The two are graduates from the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management, a school to train future politicians, established by the late Panasonic Corp. founder Konosuke Matsushita in 1980. Noda could also face challenges from candidates who may yet be fielded by former DPJ leaders Ichiro Ozawa and Yukio Hatoyama, who have severely criticized the Kan administration for its handling of the crisis after the March earthquake and tsunami, which triggered nuclear meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. Referring to the continuing conflict within the DPJ between those for and against Ozawa, the most powerful figure in Japanese politics, Noda earlier told reporters, "What we must overcome first is the 'politics of curse'" at a time when the country must be united in response to the March 11 catastrophe. (c) 2011 Kyodo News International, Inc. |