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Aso to Contend for Japanese Premiership

Japanese will go to the polls to elect a new prime minister in September, to replace current PM Junichiro Koizumi. Koizumi is set to retire next month. Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso has formally declared his intention to run for the country`s premiership, and has also pledged to improve diplomatic ties with neighboring Asian countries. He first run for the position in 2001, in the election which was won by Koizumi.

Aso says that his priorities for the nation are educational reforms, he wants Japanese children to begin compulsory education a couple of years earlier than they do at present. Aso also wishes to spur economic growth for the country by getting the Diet, or Japanese parliament, to pass major tax cuts for Japanese firms. Japan`s Finance Minister, Sadakazu Tanigaki, and Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe already threw their hats into the election ring.

Abe is the favorite among the three contenders, but Aso said he has the backing of at least twenty members of the Diet when he officially filed for his candidacy. Mr. Aso has criticized the visits of PM Koizumi to the war memorial known Yasakuni Shrine, which has repeatedly angered China and South Korea. While Mr. Koizumi has said he`s meant no harm by the visits, several Japanese war criminals from the Second World War are memorialized there in addition to other soldiers.