Naoto Kan, Japan Finance minister, a politician with equal temperament

Left Naoto Kan, right Hirohisa Fujii

Naoto Kan is the new Finance minister of Japan. He

succeeds to minister Hirohisa Fujii who served 3

months before to leave, officially for health reasons,

unofficially because he is tired of Ozawa Ichiro

peddling with risk in his budget policies.

I sure will ask to Kan about Ozawa's major influence

when he comes to visit us at the Press club in Tokyo.

Fujii 's departure is the first resignation by a

member of the Hatoyama so called "center-left"

Cabinet, only about four months after its launch, and

it will likely be a fresh blow to Hatoyama, who has

recently seen a double-digit fall in public support

and the nation's economy struggling to move out of the

prolonged bad state of the economy.

Why Kan? "Deputy Prime Minister Kan was the No. 1

person in providing strong indirect support" for

drawing up the fiscal 2010 budget, Hatoyama answered.

Despite his involvement in the budget drafting

process, however, the 63-year-old Kan, who was

theDPJ's first leader about 10 years ago, does not

have in-depth experience of steering the economy.

Might be a problem indeed.

Kan told reporters that he had once declined to hold

the new post during talks with Hatoyama on Wednesday,

telling him, "There should be a more suitable person."

Kan said he eventually accepted the position following

Hatoyama's strong request. Kan, in charge as soon as

Thursday, will retain the posts of deputy prime

minister and minister for economic and fiscal policy.

With the appointment, Yoshito Sengoku, state minister

in charge of administrative reform, will concurrently

serve as state minister for national strategy, a post

currently held by Kan.

Kan said he wants to consider Japan's revitalization

"in a larger perspective," given that he is keeping

hold of the two posts, when asked by reporters at the

premier's office about his main tasks after becoming

finance chief.

Kan facing the deteriorating economic outlook, his

politician profile will be useful.

Kan, was Health and Welfare minister and former

Democratic Party of Japan president, chnaged the way

the government works as Deputy Prime Minister and

Minister of State for National Policy and Economic and

Fiscal policy.

He’s earned the nicknames ‘Ira-Kan’ and ‘Fretful-Kan’

for his reputed short temper, but his experience with

tackling Japan’s notoriously intransigent bureaucracy

made him an obvious choice for many to oversee the

party’s policies and budget.

Born in Ube City, Yamaguchi Prefecture as the son of

businessman, Kan graduated in 1970 from the Tokyo

Institute of Technology, and opened a patent office in

1974. He actively engaged in civic movements for

years and achieved a seat in the lower house in 1980

as a member of Socialist Democratic Federation (SDF)

through a grassroots environmental campaign. He

gained national popularity in 1996 when as health

minister he exposed the minister's responsibility for

the spread of tainted blood. At that time, he was a

member of a small party forming the ruling coalition

with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). His action

was completely unprecedented and was applauded by the

mainstream media and the public. Kan also wrote a

best-selling book Dai-jin ("Minister") in which he

writes that ministers should answer to the Emperor.

In 1998, he admitted that he failed to make payments

into the state pension scheme for ten months.

Although the amounts were relatively small, he left to

avoid hurting the party. Additionally, his image had

been hurt by the revelation of an affair with a

television newscaster. After Yukio Hatoyama resigned

as the leader of the party, Kan again took over the

position. In July 2003, the DPJ and the Liberal Party

led by Ichiro Ozawa agreed to form a uniformed

opposition party to prepare for the general election

that was anticipated to take place in the fall.

During the campaign of the election of 2003, the DPJ

called the election as the choice of the government

between the ruling LDP-bloc and the DPJ, with Kan

being presented as the alternative candidate to then

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. His face was used

as the trademark of the campaign against the LDP.

However, in 2004, Kan was accused of unpaid annuities

and forced to again resign the position of leader. On

May 10 2004, he officially announced his resignation.

In mid-October 2005, Kan, who turned 60 in 2006,

proposed the creation of a new political party to be

called the "Dankai (baby boomer) Party." The initial

intent of the party was to offer places of activity

for the Japanese baby boomers - 2.7 million of whom

began to retire en masse in 2007. His hobby is Go, and

he has a wife and two sons, and lives in Tokyo.

On January 6, 2010, he was picked by Prime Minister

Yukio Hatoyama to be the Finance Minister, assuming

the post in addition to deputy prime minister. His

previous statements indicated he would favor the Bank

of Japan to ease monetary policy. "I am advocating a

weak yen to a certain extent," he said publicly in

December 2009.

As Deputy Prime Minister, Kan has said he wants

Japan’s Self-Defense Forces to take on a more

prominent international role. With Prime Minister

Yukio Hatoyama having been criticised for dithering in

the DPJ’s early months, Kan has looked decisive and

ready to lead.

It’s early days yet, but if the ruling party’s ratings

continue to slide, would the DPJ be willing to follow

in the well-trodden footsteps of the opposition

Liberal Democratic Party and change leaders after only

a year? Next year’s upper house elections, where the

DPJ hopes to secure enough seats to ensure that it

doesn’t depend on coalition partners, could be a good

test. (Sources: agencies, blogs, wiki, AG quotes)