Yoshihiko Noda named new Japanese premier

The Japanese parliament elected on Tuesday Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda the country's new prime minister, following the resignation of Naoto Kan. Noda, 54, known as a fiscal conservative, will replace Naoto Kan, who resigned last week after 15 months in office. Kan has been publicly criticized for mishandling the consequences of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that caused a series of meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Both Japanese Houses of Parliament voted for Noda, making him the 95th prime minister and the third Japanese leader over the last two years. Noda is known to Japanese as a persistent and tenacious politician as he had been making daily political speeches near a Tokyo subway station for 24 years until he was named the country's finance minister in 2010. Noda said that on Tuesday or Wednesday a new cabinet would be formed.