Who's next?

Little remains of the bright promises of reform that swept Japan’s Democratic Party to power two years ago. The ruling Democrats’ choice of Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda to become prime minister — the party’s third since that historic election — is uninspired and unlikely to provide the strong and creative leadership Japan needs to recover from the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster or its longer-term economic malaise.        Mr. Noda was the party politicians’ choice, not the public’s. He avoided stumbles as finance minister over the last year, but his positions on broader policy issues are not reassuring.          His unrepentant nationalism — he argues that Japan’s World War II leaders were not war criminals because they were convicted by an international court, rather than a Japanese one — will further fan tensions with China and South Korea. He wants good relations with Washington, but his low-key leadership will make it hard for him to rally support for the deeply unpopular agreement to relocate the American Air Force base on Okinawa.        Worst of all, he offers no bold solutions for Japan’s chronic economic problems — two decades of sputtering growth, compounded by a global crisis, a rising yen and this spring’s disasters. The tax increases he favors to pay for rebuilding should be deferred until the economy strengthens. Right now, they would plunge Japan into deeper recession and set back global recovery.       Mr. Noda is right to insist that Japan reduce its huge debt burden, but his immediate priority must be reconstruction and reviving domestic demand. He will need to re-energize the drive for market and regulatory reform.       Japan’s last effective prime minister was Junichiro Koizumi, a Liberal Democrat, who retired five years ago. Since then, five undistinguished successors have rotated through the job. We hope Mr. Noda can break that trend.       Washington is weary of dealing with Japan’s revolving-door prime ministers. When Mr. Noda attends the United Nations General Assembly this month, President Obama should invite him to the White House. They need to talk about managing relations with China, how to roll back North Korea’s nuclear program and preventing a double-dip global recession. That is more than can be  handled in a courtesy visit on the sidelines of U.N. meetings.