Finance minister Yoshihiko Noda has been elected leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, and will become the next prime minister. On the Agora blog, Hiroshi Ohnishi calls [ja] it a safe, if low-key choice, while Seki Obata claims [ja] Noda's virtuous personality is the only way of survival for the DPJ. The Shisaku blog kept up [en] a commentary about the voting processes throughout the day.