Constant parade of leaders

Japan's ever-changing prime ministers are a result of US influence and the country's flawed political system

Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda replaced Naoto Kan as the leader of the ruling Democratic Party (DPJ) on Monday and became Japan's sixth prime minister in five years the next day.

The reason that the DPJ seized the reins of government in September 2009 was not because the Japanese people preferred the party, which lacked experience in governance, but because they had completely lost confidence in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) which had been in power for decades.