TOKYO — A quick-smiling former Olympic skeetshooter with a penchant for tailored suits and manga (comic) books took power as Japan’s third prime minister in two years Wednesday, vowing to boost a languishing economy.
Lawmakers elected Taro Aso, 68, a conservative popular with the young and known for his straight talk, after quelling an attempt by the upper house to install a rival as premier.
In his first news conference as premier, he vowed to rescue the ruling party from disaster in parliamentary elections. He stacked his Cabinet with fellow right-leaning veterans and pledged to go head-to-head with the resurgent opposition.
The former foreign minister replaced the morose Yasuo Fukuda, who struggled during his year in office with a politically divided parliament and chronically low public support ratings.
Aso, Buddhist Japan’s first Roman Catholic premier, inherits a stumbling economy, an unpopular ruling party and mounting expectations that he will call snap lower house elections to prove he has a mandate to rule.
Aso has struck a markedly populist note, vowing to prop up the economy and aid those suffering amid the country’s financial troubles.
