To envision how Katsuya Okada will approach his new job as foreign minister, one need look no further than his grilling of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi during budget deliberations at the Diet on June 2, 2005.

For the duration of the standoff, Okada, who was then president of the Democratic Party of Japan, put Koizumi through the ringer for visiting contentious Yasukuni Shrine.

"I have serious concern that this issue will influence ties between Japan and China, and if ties between Japan and China are ruined, it could affect the rest of Asia," Okada told Koizumi.