Yoshihiko Noda will doubtless win his party’s leadership race this week. There’s little certainty, though, that Japan’s prime minister is up to putting his country, the world’s No. 3 economy, on stronger footing. For starters, Noda’s victory may be Pyrrhic. He is under pressure to dissolve parliament and hold national elections, perhaps as soon as November. His dismal public support raises the specter of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan losing power after just three years. That would put the Liberal Democratic Party, which governed Japan for more than half a century, back on top.
looking beyond borders 