Japan's Premier Resigns Position After 11 Months

MANILA, Sept. 1 -- Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, after less than a year of listless leadership over a sour economy, said Monday that he was resigning to prevent a "political vacuum" that could further weaken Japan's government.

The surprise announcement marks the second time in two years that a deeply unpopular, politically stymied and seemingly directionless Japanese leader has called it quits after serving less than 12 months in office. Fukuda's predecessor, Shinzo Abe, resigned last September.

Analysts focused on Taro Aso, a former foreign minister, as the likely successor. Fukuda recently named Aso the Liberal Democratic Party's secretary general. Aso has not been closely associated with Fukuda's leadership failures and could embody a new direction for the rudderless ruling party.

"There is no one else really who can run other than Aso," said Harumi Arima, a political analyst.

Aso, 67, who Fukuda beat last year in party competition for the job of prime minister, is a Roman Catholic, part of a tiny religious minority that makes up less than half a percent of Japan's population. He has a reputation as a nationalist on foreign policy. While Fukuda focused on the improvement of Japan's relations with China, Aso has said he is wary of Chinese military ambitions.

Like many elders in the ruling party, Aso has a family pedigree in politics. He is the grandson of a prime minister, his wife is the daughter of another prime minister and his younger sister is married to a cousin of the emperor.

Fukuda, 72, was largely undone as a leader by the same force that prompted the departure of the previous prime minister: A parliament paralyzed by political division. "It is a fact that it took very long to decide on anything," Fukuda said in a nationally televised news conference Monday night.

The LDP had more or less run Japan as a single-party state since the 1950s. But it lost control of the upper house of parliament in the summer of 2007 to the opposition Democratic Party of Japan.

Since then, with the Democratic Party trying to weaken and embarrass the LDP at every turn, the government has been all but unable to enact new laws. But in recent months, it has become clear that Fukuda and the LDP -- with a national election looming -- had to try to revive Japan's floundering economy.

Inflation has risen this year to the highest level in a decade, and the economy shrank in the second quarter by 2.4 percent, the largest decline in more than six years.

Last week, Fukuda announced $18 billion in new spending as part of a stimulus package focused on helping consumers with higher food and fuel bills. The package, which many economists derided as too small to make much difference in the world's second-largest economy, needs support in both houses of parliament. Fukuda suggested that his resignation could help break the logjam and speed passage of the stimulus package.

"I felt that we must particularly stress the importance of the economy," Fukuda said. "If it will help even a little bit to make the parliamentary session go smoother, I decided that it might be better for someone other than me to be in the lead."