'Military geek' Ishiba returns to friendly territory

The nation's most famous 'military geek' has come back to his home ground, just as he pledged when he left the top position in the Defense Agency three years ago.</PARAGRAPH> <PHOTO> <TABLE WIDTH='250' ALIGN='RIGHT' BORDER='0'> <TR> <TD><IMG ALT='News photo' BORDER='0' SRC='../images/photos2007/nn20070927a4a.jpg' WIDTH='250' HEIGHT='253'/></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><FONT SIZE='1'><B>Shigeru Ishiba –

takes over as defense minister from Masahiko Komura on Wednesday. KYODO PHOTO

Shigeru Ishiba, a 50-year-old Lower House member from Tottori Prefecture, is widely known for his expertise on weapons systems, complicated legal issues regarding defense, and above all his hobby of assembling and painting elaborate plastic models of warships and airplanes.