Who do you think should replace Naoto Kan as prime minister of Japan?

Japan needs a prime minister that not only has the special interests in his or her pocket but also can lead. And has a vision of the future of Japan that he or she can lead the country to. Not a politician who only wants to be prime minister because he or she doesn't want the other guy to be prime minister. And not a politician who wants to be prime minister because it's his or her turn this month.

Maehara Seiji

No one. Let Kan get on with his job. It's the yapping little ankle-biters who need to be replaced.

How about a woman prime minister for a change? I wonder how Renho would do.

No matter what happens, it's apparent that Naoto Kan is history. His replacement will be under considerable fire from the Liberal Democrats and New Komeito who desperately want to return to power. So ... the new prime minister will have to be a strong person with a clean record (Maehara already has one strike against him because one of his supporters turned out to be a Korean ... so he would be an easy target to shoot down). "smartacus," above, is leaning toward Renho ... but she, too, would be an easy target to shoot down as she has Taiwanese blood in her veins. Right now it appears that Yoshihiko Noda, the finance minister, would be the best bet to hold off the riff-raff from the LDP and New Komeito. So I'll go with Noda-san. But if he has even one worm in his woodwork, the opposition parties will take advantage of it and try to get him booted. Just hope Noda-san is as clean as clean can be. There are a number of other possible candidates, especially those with Ozawa's support, but they all appear to be weak and would last only a short time. Again ... as of now, I'll go with Noda-san.

They need someone who is capable of looking after the interests of the country as a whole, rather than this narrow-minded nonsense of rotating leaders of different political factions into the Prime Ministership. Leadership of the country is more than working to siphon off budget disbursements to help with individuals’ re-election campaigns! There is no-one strong enough to be a Shigeru Yoshida or a Kakuei Tanaka. But Maehara has the national interest in mind.

I also vote for Renho-she is strong and very intelligent woman.

Ichiro Ozawa :)

He shouldn't resign..