Noda, likening himself to loach fish, says charisma isn't everything

TOKYO —

Japan’s next prime minister admits he is no Mr Charisma—Yoshihiko Noda likens himself to a marine bottom-feeder rather than a glittering goldfish. But that, he says, is his appeal.

The 54-year-old, who as finance minister has kept to plodding statements so as not to spook financial markets, stresses his credentials as a responsible, moderate and middle-of-the road leader at a time of national crisis.

When he announced his candidacy in an essay in a conservative magazine this month, Noda said: “I am an ordinary man. I do not have large financial resources… I am not stylish and my looks are not my selling point.”

On Monday, making his final pitch for the leadership of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, he used the fish metaphor, humbly telling his fellow DPJ lawmakers: “I am a loach. I can’t be a goldfish.”

The cabinet of outgoing premier Naoto Kan is expected to resign en masse in the morning, while Noda must start picking candidates for his new ministerial line-up, expected to be named in the coming days.

Noda, who on Monday beat four rivals in the center-left Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) ballot to become its new president, is expected to be named premier in the afternoon by the Diet legislature.

In comments on the day of his victory, Noda promised a moderate leadership style that would seek to unite the divided party and engage the opposition.

He has said he is open to the idea of a grand coalition with the conservative opposition Liberal Democratic Party, who were ousted in a landslide two years ago but who can block bills in the upper house.

Noda faces several pressing challenges.

As finance minister since June last year, the fiscal conservative steered the world’s third-largest economy as it suffered the effects of the global financial crisis and Japan’s March 11 triple calamity.

He promoted raising taxes rather than borrowing more money to pay for the massive quake and nuclear disaster relief and to reduce a public debt that has ballooned to twice the size of the economy.

Noda also battled to bring down Japan’s strong yen, which has soared to post-war highs as a safe haven currency amid global market turmoil, hurting Japan’s exporters and threatening a gradual post-quake recovery.

On the question of nuclear power, which his predecessor Kan wanted to phase out following the Fukushima disaster, Noda has said that currently shut-down reactors should be restarted once they are deemed safe.

On the foreign policy front, like most of his political peers in Japan, Noda has said he supports a strong U.S. security alliance and has voiced concern about rising military spending by Asian rival China.

Noda weeks ago angered Japan’s neighbors, especially South Korea, with comments defending class-A war criminals who are among dead soldiers honored at Tokyo’s Yasukuni shrine, a long-time flashpoint for East Asian relations.

Japan’s chronic revolving-door leadership, due in part to bitter factional infighting and a busy electoral calendar, is widely seen as muddying the DPJ’s policy goals and weakening the country’s position on the world stage.

Kan, the outgoing premier, lasted in office just 15 months. Although his anti-nuclear stance tapped into broader public sentiment, his leadership style otherwise disappointed the electorate.

His support ratings had plunged from a one-time high of about 65% to around 15% before he announced last week he would bow out.