The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Tokyo

Yasuo Fukuda, who is leading the race to be Japan's next prime minister, is a seasoned veteran and foreign policy dove seen as a safe pair of hands after Shinzo Abe's turbulent year in office. At 71, Fukuda would be the oldest prime minister to take office since 1991, a sharp contrast to Abe, who at 53 was Japan's youngest leader in recent times and was faulted by many in the ruling party as too inexperienced.

Fukuda, a former oilman who nearly always sports a grey suit and classic-framed glasses, admits he lacks the charisma of Abe's popular and flamboyant predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi. "I don't think I will be able to demonstrate the kind of leadership premier Koizumi showed," Fukuda said at a recent news conference. But Fukuda is expected to make up for it with popularity within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which is seeking a smooth, stable leader after Abe's government was embroiled by incessant scandal.

A campaign last year supported by business interests sought to draft Fukuda to run to succeed Koizumi, fearing that Abe's ideology was too right-wing. Fukuda declined, saying he was too old and acknowledging he could not beat Abe. But some observers suspected he was simply shrewd and had calculated that Abe would fall.

Like many Japanese politicians, Fukuda comes from a political dynasty. His late father, Takeo Fukuda, was prime minister from 1976 to 1978 and was known for the "Fukuda Doctrine" that Japan will never again be a military power and would build ties with Asia.

The younger Fukuda has also stressed mending tense relations with China and South Korea.

He openly criticised Koizumi for his annual visits to the Yasukuni shrine, which Beijing and Seoul see as a symbol of Japan's past militarism. Abe was a supporter of the shrine but shunned it in order to repair relations with the neighbouring countries.

But despite his mild demeanor, Fukuda has also encountered controversy in the past Earlier expectations he would be a frontrunner to succeed Koizumi were dashed in 2004 when he resigned from the powerful post of chief cabinet secretary after he, among other politicians, admited failing to pay pension premiums.