Japan's PM Kan confirms he will quit

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Source: Reuters

Prime Minister Naoto Kan confirmed on Friday he would resign as ruling party leader, Kyodo news agency said, setting the stage for Japan to pick its sixth premier in five years as it tries to rebuild from a massive earthquake and tsunami, forge a new energy policy after a nuclear crisis and curb huge public debt.

As many as seven ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) lawmakers are jostling to replace Kan in a DPJ leadership vote set for August 29.

They include former foreign minister Seiji Maehara, a security hawk, and Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, a fiscal conservative. The winner will become premier by virtue of the party's majority in parliament's lower house.

Successive governments have struggled to address deep policy problems in the face of a divided parliament and rifts inside the ruling party.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44283145/ns/world_news-asia_pacific/

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Japan PM Naoto Kan resigns amid criticism
Japan's PM Naoto Kan has resigned, clearing the way for Japan's sixth leader in five years.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-14675445

[Art_from_Ark]

1. It seems like only yesterday that Junichiro Koizumi was Prime Minister

He served longer as PM (April 2001- September 2006) than the next 5 PMs to come after him combined.