• He’s a compromise candidate. He doesn’t have his own independent power base. And he’s not a particularly strong communicator. He’s not a populist at all. He’s sort of a typical throwback to the Japanese prime minister of yore, the faceless grey suits. Even in Japan his name recognition factor is quite low.
• Jeffrey Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple U’s Japanese campus • Giving a not-so-enthralled take on the new Prime Minister of Japan, Yoshihiko Noda. This article states that Noda, a former finance minister, acknowledged during his campaign that “he was no goldfish, but rather an unattractive loach, a bottom-feeding fish.” We’re endlessly curious how it would be received stateside if Mitt Romney proclaimed his similarity to an ugly, bottom-feeding fish. source

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