Japan's Bruised Ruling Party To Pick Yet Another Leader

Source: International Business Times

Candidates for Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership include (L-R) Takayuki Kobayashi, Toshimitsu Motegi, Yoshimasa Hayashi, Sanae Takaichi and Shinjiro Koizumi AFP Japan's ruling party elects its fifth leader in as many years Saturday, charged with reviving its flagging fortunes as a new anti-immigration grouping snaps at its heels. The frontrunners for the Liberal Democratic Party's top seat are Sanae Takaichi, a China hawk who would be Japan's first woman premier, and the youthful but potentially out-of-his-depth Shinjiro Koizumi. But LDP members and MPs might choose instead the safer -- if unexciting -- Yoshimasa Hayashi, dubbed "Mr.