Japan has a new prime minister — and a new political calendar. National elections will be held in a few weeks and the results could have an impact here in the United States.
Shigeru Ishiba is a former defense minister whose political base is the rural area of Tottori Prefecture, nearly 500 miles from Tokyo. He has been a member of parliament for decades.
He's also served as agriculture minister, but he is known as a policy expert on defense.
He's floated the idea of an Asian version of the NATO military alliance and has suggested the military relationship Japan has with the United States is uneven.
He also supported higher interest rates for Japan.
That was the main reason that news of his emergence as the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party sent Japan's main stock index down nearly 5% Monday.
Still, there was a market bounce-back Tuesday morning, and that volatility may still be at play in the short term.
It has certainly been a volatile period for Japanese politics.
In August, Fumio Kishida announced he would not seek a second term as head of his political party, instantly making him a lame-duck prime minister — and throwing open the doors to a free-wheeling, but brief, campaign inside his own political party.
In a runoff, Ishiba narrowly defeated the more conservative Sanae Takaichi, who would have been Japan's first woman prime minister.
Ishiba immediately called for a snap election for the national parliament — taking place later this month.
