The election took place today, shortly after Khan was voted leader of his party, the DPJ. He becomes the fifth Premier in three years. Frank and direct, he knows how to challenge the powerful Japanese bureaucracy. He is known for promoting austerity measures - high taxes and spending cuts - to reduce the country’s debt of, one of the largest in the industrial world.

Tokyo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Naoto Kan, leader of the newly elected Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), was elected today prime minister by the country’s lower house.

Kan, who was finance minister in previous government under Yukio Hatoyama, has promised a "new departure" for his party in anticipation of the upper house elections next July.

Hatoyama, who had reaped a great success in last year's elections, resigned on June 2 last, for having betrayed his promises to voters to remove the U.S. base in Okinawa. This fact, together with several scandals in his party, saw his consensus plunge.

Kan, 63, immediately told DPJ members that the alliance with the U.S. will remain the "cornerstone" of diplomats.

Naoto Kan is the fifth prime minister in three years. He is seen as a perfect successor Hatoyama because of being direct and frank, capable of challenging the slow Japanese bureaucracy, and of reporting scandals and cliques. As Minister of Finance he had agreed proposed spending cuts and tax increases to curb Japan's huge public debt, among the highest in the industrial world.

• japan
• prime
• minister
• naoto
• kan
• cuts
• debt
• okinawa
• US
• relations