Japan's got a new prime minister on the way...

...he's a foreign policy hawk who wants to change Japan's constitution, which renounces war and prohibits the country from developing a substantial military. And does this sound familiar? Both his dad and his granddad were big shot Japanese politicians, and he's known as a "strong leader" because he takes some hard-line stances. Boo.

Politician Says Japan Should Revise Pacifist Constitution
By Norimitsu Onishi, The New York Times

TOKYO, Sept. 1 — Shinzo Abe, the nationalist politician who is favored to become Japan’s next prime minister, said today that Japan should revise its pacifist constitution, as he formally declared his candidacy in an internal party election scheduled for later this month.

In his declaration to run for the presidency of the governing Liberal Democratic Party, Mr. Abe, the chief cabinet secretary, also said that Japan should seek a larger role in the world and further strengthen its alliance with the United States...

Mr. Abe is almost certain to succeed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who will retire later this month in accordance with party rules. Succeeding Mr. Koizumi in the party’s top post would automatically make Mr. Abe the nation’s leader as well, because the Liberal Democrats control of the lower house of parliament, which chooses the prime minister...

His image as Mr. Koizumi’s heir apparent was further solidified after North Korea tested long-range missiles in early July. The incident played to Mr. Abe’s strength as a hawk, and he wasted no time in suggesting that Japan should debate whether to acquire the military capacity for a pre-emptive strike.

At 51, Mr. Abe would become postwar Japan’s youngest prime minister, and the first born after World War II ended. He is considered less experienced than his two rivals, having held no cabinet position before his current one.