New Liberal Democratic Party President Yasuo Fukuda is known as an advocate of relatively conciliatory policies, so after a year with the hawkish Shinzo Abe in power the public may be expecting a major shift in various policy areas, including diplomacy and the Yasukuni Shrine issue.
Political analysts, however, are doubtful there will be much of a drastic change now that Fukuda has been elected head of the LDP and is set to become prime minister on Tuesday.
"What one prime minister wants to do personally and whether or not he will be able to move forward with his policies are two different things," said Takeshi Sasaki, a political science professor at Gakushuin University. "A perfect example of this is Abe himself."