The Olympian Prime Minister

Can you say that your prime minister was once an Olympian?

Meet Taro Aso, member of the Japanese shooting team at the 1976 Summer Olympics and Japan’s new executive leader. Known for his charismatic smile and controversial statements on Japan’s colonial past, Mr. Aso was selected from within the Liberal Democratic Party. Mr. Aso studied at both Stanford University and the London School of Economic.

There was a chance that Yuriko Koike, the former Minister of Defense under Junichiro Koizumi, could have taken the top spot. Ms. Koike would have been the first female Prime Minister. It is largely believed that the recent economic down turns boosted Aso. Hopefully with his experience he will be able to revive a struggling Japanese economy.