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The sudden resignation of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Wednesday, the ruling Democratic Party of Japan immediately launched the process of selecting its new leader, in a race against the time to prepare for an uphill battle in a national election next month.Naoto Kan, finance minister, was the first to announce his intention to run for the top job.
"During the short time under Prime Minister Hatoyama, we were unable to fulfill the expectations presented to us from the voters last fall," Mr. Kan told reporters. "I would like to take over the job and make sure it gets done."
"We have had four prime ministers stepping down one after another with less than a year in job," said Hideo Kumano, an economist for Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute. "The government can talk great policies but if they don't even last for a year, Japan's weakened economy will never get a chance for getting rebuilt."Some question whether Mr. Kan is the right man to usher in such changes and whether he can sever the vicious cycle in which the country's prime ministers have changed nearly every year. The Liberal Democratic Party, a long-serving conservative party ousted by the DPJ, named three prime ministers in its last three years in power in its desperate attempt to appeal to voters.
"Hatoyama and Kan could both be just transitional characters," said Norihiko Narita, a political scientist and president of Surugadai University. "In the post-Kan and Hatoyama era, we will see a completely different culture in the DPJ and new ways of conducting politics."These two are popular with voters. An informal online survey conducted by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) daily Wednesday showed 1,442 respondents naming Mr. Maehara as their favorite candidate for next prime minister. Mr. Kan followed with 1,096 votes and Mr. Okada with 878. Mr. Maehara said nothing has been decided on this candidacy and Mr. Okada hasn't made any remarks.Hatoyama is his receptiveness toward a rise in consumption tax. After becoming finance minister, he soon mentioned the need to begin studying a consumption tax hike, which by then was a taboo because of Hatoyama's election pledge not to raise the tax for four years. If he becomes the prime minister, the timing of a consumption tax hike could come earlier.

source by-online.wsj.com