Japan has had 5 prime ministers in last 5 years. And the current PM seems to be his way out too.
I first came to Japan just when PM Mori Yoshiro was about to leave. Looking back now, only Koizumi Junichiro seemed capable of driving this country with his charismatic influence.
My wife generally is quite blasé about politics unlike me. But the other day she asked me “How long does Japanese parliament is supposed to last? 2 Years” with very straight face. Since she is only here from the last term of Koizumi, it was obvious for a person not following politics to imagine that 2 years is the maximum for any Japanese prime minister.
In fact last 4 prime ministers could barely complete their 1st year in the office. One of them did not manage even that.
First from this list is Shinzo Abe.
His tenure as PM was uneventful overall and troubled by his agricultural ministers. His first agricultural minister committed suicide, second and third were center of financial scandals. He eventually passed his reign to Yasuo Fukuda after falling popularity. But before he left one important thing he started was opening active diplomacy with India which has continued till today.
Yasuo Fukuda
As suddenly as he became the prime minister, he left the office in a flash too. Especially after his tenure I started to get a feeling that why do all these high ranking politicians lack a simple common sense of staying out of controversy. After series of failures at parliament and controversies, again he decided to resign out of the blue.
Taro Aso
Born in the family of politicians and related to royal family it seemed that there is finally someone who can complete his tenure in the office. But was in the office when his party, Liberal Democratic Party was already loosing popularity. Their ousting was unavoidable.
Yukio Hatoyama
Well. He was the last person I thought would be PM of Japan. In fact even he himself had a look on face as if the surprise of becoming PM never went away. He became PM on the loads of high promises made by his party, Democratic Party of Japan, which obviously were too much to deliver. In Japan this was unforgivable.
His fashion sense was impeccable!! I mean a PM can wear THAT?? And nobody even advised him against it?
Hatoyama with his amazing fashion sense
Naoto Kan
As his predecessors, he also looked promising until the disaster struck. He made the disaster look lot worse. He even cried on live broadcast. He has been anything but inspiration for people suffering under such a great disaster.
Next?
Anyway, whoever it may be, he/she (am I expecting too much?) should just complete the term!!
