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Musashi Miyamoto
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Japan prime minister facing calls to step down after only seven months
Naoto Kan, Japan's prime minister, is facing a revolt from within his own party that threatens to unseat him, just seven months after he was elected.
Naoto Kan, Janapese Prime Minister Photo: REUTERS
By Julian Ryall in Tokyo 12:22PM GMT 17 Jan 2011
Mr Kan shuffled his cabinet on Friday, replacing two ministers who had been censured for their handling of the collision between a Chinese fishing boat and a Japanese Coast Guard patrol vessel off the disputed Senkaku Islands in September.
Sumio Mabuchi, who was relieved of his post as transport minister, responded by visiting a number of his political colleagues in the Democratic Party of Japan and suggesting that it was time to "start the engines for a presidential election" for the party, according to reports.
"Mr Mabuchi has expressed his intent in the past to someday vie for the prime minister's chair and I imagine he was disappointed that Mr Kan did not protect him," Jun Okumura, a senior adviser and political analyst with the Eurasia Group, told The Daily Telegraph.
Members of the DPJ have suggested that if Mr Kan is unable to pass the fiscal 2011 budget, which the opposition and some factions within his own party are trying to block, then he will have little choice but to resign, triggering a leadership election as early as the spring.
If Mr Kan does step down, his replacement will become the seventh Japanese prime minister since September 2006. His four immediate predecessors have lasted an average of months 11.5 months in the post.
The failure of the DPJ administration has been a huge let-down to the Japanese electorate, who turned out in force in the September 2009 general election seeking change from almost 50 years of rule by the Liberal Democratic Party.
Instead of a new era in politics – one free of cronyism, back-room deals and questionable financial transactions – they have been served more of the same.
