Japan begins countdown for PM to leave

TOKYO - Prospects grew on Wednesday that Prime Minister Naoto Kan would resign this month, setting the stage for the selection of Japan's sixth leader in five years as the country struggles to rebuild from a massive tsunami, forge a new energy policy after a nuclear crisis and fix tattered state finances.

With two key bills that Kan wants to make into law before he goes looking likely to be enacted before parliament's session ends on Aug 31, Japanese media said Kan's Democratic Party was planning to vote as early as Aug 28 to select a new leader.

Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, who favors paying for bulging social security costs by raising the 5 percent sales tax, and like Kan sees reining in ballooning public debt as a policy priority, is mooted as a leading contender.