Prime Minister Naoto Kan saved his job by beating Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, former secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan, in Tuesday's election of the DPJ president. In a big win, he got 721 points from DPJ Diet lawmakers, local assembly members, and registered party members and supporters against Mr. Ozawa's 491 points. But he should not be disillusioned into thinking he enjoys strong positive support or feeds strong expectations.
The race was between a prime minister who has not yet demonstrated leadership and a leader dogged by a negative image of a tainted politician despite his rich political skills and ideas. Mr. Kan must prove his worthiness by leading the nation in solving the problems that Japan faces, including deflation and the steep rise in the yen's value. As a year has passed since the DPJ came to power, more important for Mr. Kan than just tackling immediate problems is to think again about what was significant in the change of government and to show the kind of country the DPJ wants to build and how to achieve it.
Although the approval rating of the Kan Cabinet has been rising since around the July 11 Upper House election, in which the DPJ was defeated, it is not based on any concrete achievements by Mr. Kan. It rather reflects people's desire to avoid seeing Japan's prime minister rotate in a short time. Mr. Kan has been in power only for some three months.