New Prime Minister Taro Aso talks with his predecessor Yasuo Fukuda.

New PM Aso forms cabinet with close allies and rivals

Wednesday 24th September, 06:16 PM JST

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chibaman at 04:46 PM JST - 24th September

Aso named prime minister, or prime minister named Aso? Think about it.
irabujapanu at 04:56 PM JST - 24th September

koike and company must be very happy, the clock started ticking so some time next year expect a new prime minister. Aso should take a leadership lesson from Fukuda on how to "fill in the leadership vaccum" (whatever that means)..
franz75 at 05:03 PM JST - 24th September

OK OK.. let's wait a bit or a while. He might be surprising us.

Let's give him a chance.
Sarge at 05:16 PM JST - 24th September

Wottock / nuts - Ha ha ha, yeah, that video doesn't show Asa's best English! I've heard him speak better English when he met Condi Rice. She didn't have any trouble understanding him either.

President Bush's advisor: Sir, Japan's new prime minister is Aso.

President Bush: Now, wait a dang minute, don't be jumpin' all over the man yet! Hey, what happened to what's his face, Koizumi? You know, the guy who loves Elvis?

Hee hee!
proxy at 07:07 PM JST - 24th September

Actually, both Aso Taro and his brother are extremely nice people, maybe too nice for politics. Taro will need an "attack dog" assistant to get anything done.
dr_jones at 07:26 PM JST - 24th September

Great to see Aso as the new prime minister! I hope he will prove all the people who are against him because he has a Ameyoko-Voice that he is able to do better politics than the former two 'failures'.
chibaman at 07:44 PM JST - 24th September

Yasuo Fukuda, 72, and his cabinet resigned en masse in the morning

The Japanese politician's wet dream.
gogogo at 08:02 PM JST - 24th September

Aso guy is going to put his foot in his mouth by going to the UN to talk. He wont be able to answer any of their questions, he'll more than likely say something like eating whales is good for your health and more people should eat them not even understanding the global position on the subject.
Pukey2 at 09:43 PM JST - 24th September

He can say "I've fallen and I can't get up" fluenty in three languages.

In what? Japanese, Ainu and Okinawan? Oh no, that can't be right - Ainu and Okinawan don't exist, do they?

one nation, one civilization, one language, one culture and one race
TokyoVP at 10:09 PM JST - 24th September

Aso as Foreign Minister ordered MOFA to create an international MANGA award.

Now that there is a Aso Cabinet, how long will it take before the Chief Cabinet Secretary is holding press conferences while referring to a MANGA script??

Maybe Aso is digging out those old MANGA books to prepare for his UN speech.
piroz121 at 11:19 PM JST - 24th September

it willlast 2 month maybe , i don't care !!!
drugger at 11:38 PM JST - 24th September

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gogogo at 02:13 AM JST - 25th September

In an unusual move...

Prepare for many many more.
gogogo at 02:26 AM JST - 25th September

Some light reading on Aso:

(2007 regarding the middle east) "Japanese are trusted. If [you have] blue eyes and blond hair, it's probably no good. Luckily, we Japanese have yellow faces."

"He offended South Korea with remarks in 2003 that were interpreted in Seoul as trying to justify some of Japan's actions during its 1910-45 colonisation of the Korean peninsula."

"He also drew criticism in 2001 when, as economics minister, he said he hoped to make Japan the kind of country where "rich Jews" would want to live. Mr Aso denied he meant to be discriminatory."

"Mr Aso ran into trouble last month over his criticism of Washington's occupation strategy in Iraq as "immature". "After the US attack and occupation, they launched a very immature operation that did not work so well, and that is why there is trouble now," the Kyodo news agency quoted Mr Aso as saying during a speech."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/japan-has-middle-east-answer-on-the-face-of-it/2007/03/22/1174153253305.html
chibaman at 06:39 AM JST - 25th September

Aso also picked 34-year-old Yuko Obuchi

so that in addition to a few more in-house scratches on backs, he could put all two of the women in his cabinet as flowers in each hand for the press.