Abe garnered 339 votes out of 475 counted in the Lower House, and 136 ballots out of 240 in the Upper House, defeating Ichiro Ozawa, the leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan.

Abe, at 52 the nation's first prime minister born after World War II, stocked his new government with conservatives such as Taro Aso, who will keep his post as foreign minister, and veteran Fumio Kyuma, appointed to a second stint as defense chief.

"It's the beginning of a new era under Abe," governing party secretary-general Hidenao Nakagawa said. "I hope those who voted for Abe will join hands to achieve our goals."

The heir apparent to outgoing Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for about a year, Abe came to office as a champion of the security pact with top ally the United States, revision of the pacifist Constitution, a more outspoken foreign policy and more patriotic education.

His top challenges will be repairing Japan's deteriorating ties with China and South Korea, maintaining the economy's recovery from a decade-long slowdown, and grappling with troubles related to the rapidly aging population.

His government immediately declared that the prime minister -- not the powerful bureaucracy -- would direct policy.

"The prime minister's office should be strengthened as the control center for the whole state," said incoming Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki. "The office will put forward policies based on strategic thinking."

The new prime minister faces the further challenge of filling the shoes of Koizumi, who pushed through major economic reforms, backed a groundbreaking dispatch of soldiers to Iraq and brought Japanese politics into the modern media age in five years at the helm.

The Japan Times Weekly: Sept. 30, 2006
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