Word: aso
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...next leader of Japan is a 71-year-old veteran who was rejected last year in part because he was considered too elderly. Yasuo Fukuda, an LDP Diet member who'd disappeared into the background in recent years, leads LDP Secretary-General - and erstwhile front-runner - Taro Aso in the polls. More importantly, Fukuda has the support of influential factions of LDP legislators who will almost certainly prove dominant when the party convenes to pick a new leader on Sept...
...wasn't supposed to be this way. In the immediate aftermath of Abe's sudden resignation on Sept. 12, it was Aso - the conservative, high profile ex-Foreign Minister - who had the inside track. A comic book-loving populist - his most recent book was titled Awesome Japan - Aso had finished second to Abe in last year's LDP presidential election, and generally scored well with the public. But like a radioactive bomb, Abe's departure was so disastrous that it contaminated anyone near him, particularly Aso, who reportedly knew of the Prime Minister's coming resignation days before...
...With Aso seen as damaged goods, a consensus rapidly formed around Fukuda, a safe if dull choice who wouldn't hurt the LDP, as Abe, who led the party to an historic electoral defeat at the end of July, so clearly had. "This is a self-preservation move for the party," says Carol Gluck, a professor of Japanese history at Columbia University. "This is seen in the party as a safer choice for regrouping the LDP." Even Fukuda himself seemed to recognize that he was parachuting into a caretaker role. "Our party faces an emergency," he told LDP members gathered...
...will choose a new leader--and the next Prime Minister--on Sept. 19, and the odds-on favorite is former Foreign Minister Taro Aso, who emerged as Abe's most influential Cabinet member. That decision could be followed by early legislative elections, and unless the LDP can quickly turn its fortunes around, it could find itself out of power for only the second time in its 52-year history. "The true nature of the LDP--a dying body on life support--has been exposed by Abe's resignation," says political analyst Hirotada Asakawa...
...Democratic Party (LDP) - which has a solid majority in the Diet's Lower House and therefore controls the government - announced that it would hold leadership elections on Sept. 19 to choose the country's next Prime Minister. The top candidate is LDP Secretary-General and former Foreign Minister Taro Aso, who emerged as the most influential member of Abe's cabinet...