It’s a beginning from zero, says Obuchi

Even in the euphoria of winning, Obuchi grimly acknowledged that solving Japan’s problems would be an uphill fight.

“In a way, I think this is a start from zero,” he said.

“Starting from the bottom point, I must make progress.”

At the top of Obuchi’s list of troubles is the economy.

Bad financial news seems to break every day in Japan.

On Thursday, US credit rating service Moody’s announced it may downgrade its rating on the Government debt — a move that could further hobble Japanese finances.

Obuchi has already promised to pump some juice back into the economy to salvage it from itsworst recession since World War II. His ideas include six trillion yen ($ 43 billion) in income cuts and ten trillion yen ($ 71 billion) worth of new public works spending.

Even if these work, there will be a number of other problems awaiting.

There is Japan’s ballooning national debt and the plague of bad loans, which have undermined confidence in the financial system and absorbed badly needed funds from being more productively spent on new investment.