OSAKA — In the short term, the next prime minister will either continue internationally sought fiscal and economic reforms or return to the traditional pork-barrel projects and failed economic policies of the past, forge closer military ties with the United States or maintain the status quo.
With two candidates who once lived in the Middle East, Japan's engagement in that part of the world might change.
But with a Lower House election likely to come sooner rather than later, whoever assumes the prime minister's post after winning the Liberal Democratic Party presidency will probably leading Japan for days or weeks, rather than months or years. That's the general view from abroad as an, as yet undeclared, general election looms.