Japan will on Saturday elect its new leader, with a millennial minister poised to become prime minister of the rapidly aging nation.
Shinjiro Koizumi, who at 44 would become Japan’s youngest leader in a century, is competing with four other candidates to head the ruling Liberal Democratic Party — which has governed Japan for most of the past 70 years — after the resignation of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba following two major election losses. Agriculture minister Koizumi, who bills himself a consensus builder, faces his toughest challenge in Sanae Takaichi, a conservative hardliner who would become the country’s first female ruler if she wins. But experts fear neither candidate offers Japan a clear vision to solve an array of challenges at home and abroad.