Getting your player ready...
TOKYO — Japan’s lower house elected Naoto Kan as the new prime minister today, handing the outspoken populist the task of quickly reclaiming public support squandered by his predecessor ahead of July elections.
“My task is to rebuild this nation,” Kan said after he was chosen ruling party chief. Pledging to confront problems linking “money and politics,” he also stressed the need to spur economic growth.
Kan, 63, was finance minister under the unpopular Yukio Hatoyama, who stepped down Wednesday.
