Who is this Aso?

The title of this post is a quotation from an analyst at HSBC who was writing about the man who became Prime Minister of Japan in September. Two months later, Japan is in recession, Aso's plans for a snap election have been shelved and public opinion polls give such him a dismal rating that there is speculation he may be the third Japanese leader to resign in two years. His party, the LDP, has been in power for all but 10 months since 1955 so it's not surprising that people feel the need for a change. "Aso will become the LDP's funeral director," says one political commentator. Two of his appointees have been forced to resign after making comments deemed to be inappropriate: the Transport Minister who referred to the teachers union as a "cancer" and the Air Force Chief who claimed that Japan was not an aggressor in the Second World War. Peeople are remembering that Aso himself said in 2003 that Koreans who'd been forced to take Japanese surnames during the 1910-45 occupation had wanted to do so. There are demonstrations outside his $94m private residence which is being highlighted as a symbol of Japan's growing wealth disparity.