(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-09-13 11:20

A look at possible candidates to succeed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who announced Wednesday he will resign after a string of damaging scandals and a humiliating electoral defeat:

-- Taro Aso, 66. Former foreign minister and currently No. 2 in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Aso, who contested Abe in the ruling party leadership race in September 2006, is widely seen as leading contender for prime minister. Known as an outspoken conservative, Aso also served as internal affairs minister and top planning chief under Abe's predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi. During his stint as foreign minister Sino-Japanese relations declined, partially through his branding China a "military threat". Grandson of the late Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida.

-- Sadakazu Tanigaki, 62. Finance minister under Koizumi and former minister in charge of industrial revitalization. Also ran against Abe in the LDP leadership race. A lawyer before entering the government, Tanigaki has stressed the need for Japan to repair relations with neighbors China and South Korea.

-- Yasuo Fukuda, 71. A former top government spokesman, Fukuda was one of the leading contenders, along with Abe, Aso and Tanigaki, to replace Koizumi. But he dropped out before the formal race, citing his age. Son of former Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda, he worked in a petroleum company and later served as political secretary to his father. Known as a foreign policy dove, Fukuda has argued for closer ties with China and opposes visits by Japanese leaders to a Tokyo war shrine.

-- Junichiro Koizumi, 65. Former prime minister, widely popular as much for his reformist agenda as his silvery mop-top and passion for Elvis Presley. Koizumi swept the 2005 parliamentary elections with a dramatic campaign, fielding celebrity candidates and purging anti-reform lawmakers from his party. But the former leader also damaged relations with China and South Korea during his 2001-2006 tenure by repeatedly visiting the Tokyo war shrine.

-- Kaoru Yosano, 69. Appointed chief Cabinet secretary in a recent reshuffle, Yosano has served as trade minister and education minister and is known as a strong supporter of fiscal reform. Worked at a nuclear power operator after graduating from Tokyo University's prestigious law school, and became secretary to former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone in 1968.