Japan PM resigns so new leader can be named
Japan's prime minister and his Cabinet resigned en masse on Tuesday ahead of a vote in parliament to install former Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda as the country's new leader.
Noda was elected Monday to head the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, virtually insuring that he would be named prime minister in the parliament vote expected later Tuesday. He succeeds the unpopular Naoto Kan.
Cabinet spokesman Yukio Edano said Kan and his Cabinet agreed to resign in a conference Tuesday morning.
Noda, seen as a fiscal conservative, will face several major issues ahead, including how to fund the recovery from Japan's devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the ongoing nuclear crisis touched off by the disaster, and the rapid strengthening of the nation's currency on international markets.
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