Noda becomes Japan's 6th prime minister in 5 years

Noda-san omedato gozimasu... :) I just want to be first in this post... :)

Good luck buddy. You are definately gonna need it. BTW, Ozawa will try to destroy you on principle no matter what you do, so don't even try to accomodate him. Just a word to the wise.

Maehara would have been better.

Why would any of these morons want to be prime minister? They have no real power or control.. He will be dictated to by those prehistoric dinosaurs that float around in the background. Their instructions (orders) will be the same as for any other new prime minister - as follows:

Noda-san do not try to rock the book. All us old timers like and hold dear to our heart the easy and privileged life style we and a our families enjoy at the expense of the gullible minions. If you try to make any major changes, we will all see to it that you are out of here faster than you can say 'What happened".. and you can forget the high paid job in the public sector when you retire from government.

Right now get out there and pretend to be the all powerful prime minister, but just remember who is in charge... Right off you go.

Japanese peoples never trust Maehara

tokyokawasaki: "Why would any of these morons want to be prime minister?"

To have their photo taken in the PM chair and so they can simply say "I was PM of Japan". I'm pretty sure that's the only reason these days. Now six people can say it since only five years ago!

So I want to try and get this straight... Noda was Finance Minister when Japan slipped to the number three position in world economies from number two, when the yen became it's highest in a long time resulting in harm to the nation's exports as well as job loss, has seen the debt balloon to its highest ever (which is twice the size of the economy), and he's going to help how?

"Why would any of these morons want to be prime minister?"

The nice pension and permanent security guard outside your house for the rest of your life.

I give him 5 months.

487.2978723

Anyone care to guess what that number signifies?

487.2978723 Anyone care to guess what that number signifies?

It is the average term of office (in days) for the Japanese Prime Minister from 1868 to present.

So can we say that Mr. Kan did OK with 448 days under the circumstances, and I doubt Mr. Noda will last much longer.

[source] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Japan

@Squid

The average length of termed served by Japanese Prime Ministers (in hours!) ?

6 leadership turnovers in 5 years? the only other nation in civilized history that could compare is the Roman Empire during civil war, and their emperors didn't resign, they were literally killed off.

Not a bad Guess Lucabrasi. Close but no cigar

@Neojamal, I too thought this was a relatively resent problem, but seems it's been going on forever

When are we going to hear about cabinet appointments, party leadership posts, and the like? That's when we will see if this guy actually has a back bone, or if he is (as we all seem to fear) yet another place-holder until the LDP comes out of the wilderness.

Being elected as a prime minister in Japan is like being asked to conduct an orchestra where no one reads music, no one has no clue why they are holding an instrument and no one can stay awake. And each of the orchestra is trying to kill the other half.

Graham: He'll do what every other PM does; give the people who shafted him high power positions so as to 'keep the peace', ensure Ozawa stays in the shadows while not giving him the boot so as to keep his supporters supporting the DPJ. He'll give the other PM candidates top jobs so they won't try to run against him later, and the recycling will continue.

Squidbert: The average number of days served as PM?

@smithinjapan

Squidbert: The average number of days served as PM?

Well the average term of service for PMs during the period of 1928 to present date.

Some served multiple terms of service, so the numbers are a bit off

So to simplify it, lets say: 487.2978723 is the number of days (on average) between electing a PM, whether or not the same PM was re-elected.

He is not just the sixth PM in five years, he is also the fifteenth PM in sixteen years. Give him a couple of months and the door will be revolving again. He was also my English student six years ago. He didn't last long at that either.

Oh my god...what the hell will it take for a meaningful change. A Leader to emerge, 20,000 dead not good enough. N disaster not enough. I shudder to think what will wake the voting age population up. Seriously heading for disaster and shhh lets not talk about that.

Japan should changing their PMs every month or every week in order to bring the nation faster recovery!

We are all fracked!

Disillusioned: "He is not just the sixth PM in five years, he is also the fifteenth PM in sixteen years."

It's especially sad when you consider the fact that Koizumi alone took up near half that time.

Mr Noda defeated Mr maehara with a gap of -49% popularity (Polls:Noda 5%, Maehara 54%). This is the greatest 'miracle' in western democracy history! Wonderful! I like Japanese democracies!

he said this month that Japan’s World War II leaders convicted by the allied tribunal should not be seen as war criminals because they have paid for their sins.

Yeah right, they are convicted war criminals how can they be seen as anything else you twit. They might very well have paid for their sins by being hanged, but they are still war criminals.

The amount of logic these idiots show is incredibly small and they are leading the 3rd largest economy in the world.

No wonder we heading for economic disaster.

Unbelievably numb in the head this lot !

@just-a-guy

Mr Noda defeated Mr maehara with a gap of -49% popularity (Polls:Noda 5%, Maehara 54%). This is the greatest 'miracle' in western democracy history! Wonderful! I like Japanese democracies!

If you're going to criticise, great. But please take the time to acquaint yourself with the basics of how a monarchy works. Noda is the Prime Minister, the leader of the main party in parliament. He's not the head of state and he's not the president. Popularity with the public is irrelevant. It's a system that's worked fine in a lot of countries for hundreds of years. Don't knock it without due cause.

Yeah right, they are convicted war criminals how can they be seen as anything else you twit. They might very well have paid for their sins by being hanged, but they are still war criminals

How does a trial with the victim as both prosecutor, judge and jury work?

Omedetou gozaimasu!! You are the 6th prime minister in 5 years! Something to be proud of! Appreciate the humility, and as a self-proclaimed bottom-feeding fish, I salute you in your efforts to clean the bottoms, where all the shit and debris of this country has settled. I hear Tohoku is especially abundant in shit and debris these days. Truly, a daunting task! ganbare!

Based on the fact that no politician has been charged for conspiring to wage against Iraq, it's safe to say that the global opinion against Class-A war criminal offenses have changed to the extent, the charges have no place in our world. Noda is merely reflecting on that..

hehe who am I kidding, Noda is a right-wing nutjob and the Koreans along with all the other former Allied states that participated in the war against Iraq are hypocrits for applying double standards against Germany and Japan.

well the revolving door of JP Politics continues. i think people will be betting how long he stays in. they seem to always bail out / Quit when things are not going Good. Good luck to him & Nihon I do hope things get better BUT they have to actually do something to improve Japan. hai hai Ganbatte

Noda stressed that he is an ordinary man without political star power or looks, and promised to be a peacemaker who will unite the deeply divided party and seek to engage the opposition.

we hope you do the opposite and intimidate the crap out of the rebels in your own party.

While I'm not a fan of Mr. Noda, I laugh at the people who complain or make fun of Japan because of the short terms of PMs here. Is the world a better place due to eight years of Reagan, Clinton, or especially Bush? Please. We'd be better off with all politicians having short terms and thus less opportunity to due harm.

Nobody in this world is listening to what Japanese PM says anyway....because there will be another person sooner or later within 12 months in average!

Noda, has stressed the economic interdependence of the region’s nations, he wants “win-win relations” with S.Korea and China..........with the compliance of your views about those A class war criminals, you can kiss that relations good-bye!

I don't give him long either. If my Japanese history is correct, then the past shows us that under imperial control Japan flourished and was at peace for hundreds of years. But now, America has introduced democracy and Japan has had 15 PM in 16 years (according to Disillusioned). Unless you get out of the control of the much older party members telling you what to do, Japan will not get better.

If he wants his country to recover, he better not bring up territorial disputes or visit Yasukuni.

noda san, omedetou gazaimasu. it wont be an easy job. save japan

Omedetou, I hope he will not resign soon.

anybody that would put themselves in the running to be a leader of a country is not humble, it is only a question of degree and ability to hide their ambition

what a joke. Is this a new scam to get a better golden handshake?

Japanese politics is just a social club for guys who couldn't make it in the yakuza. The country is run by bureacrats who write all the laws and draw up the annual budget.

I congratulate the new PM and the people of Japan. I sincerly hope this humble PM can help give hope to all Japan.

omedetou !!!! atlease 1 year is good enough .... dont resign.

Such an embarrassment for Japan.