Hanging On

Japanese PM Survives No-Confidence Vote

Says he will step down when reconstruction is under control.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, already in trouble before the March 11 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis, has managed to hold on to power a little longer. On Thursday, Kan survived a no-confidence motion, but said he would step down once the country's reconstruction was taken care of. One of Kan's rivals from within his own party, Ichiro Ozawa, set a more-concrete deadline, saying the Prime Minister would step down no later than this summer. Kan's surprise announcement was apparently enough to sway major ruling party officials expected to vote in favor of his departure, swinging the vote from a close call to a more-comfortable 293-152. Doubts over the Japanese government's ability to reign in its deficit—twice the size of its economy—prompted Moody's to put its debt rating on review this week.