TOKYO : A New Man for Japan

Kiichi Miyazawa, 72, a veteran of 49 years in government and politics, will be elected prime minister by Parliament next Tuesday and will name his first Cabinet. Miyazawa, who won the presidency of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party in a party election Oct. 27, is expected to pay more attention to economic policy than his predecessor, Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu.

Miyazawa already has said he would like to see a decrease in interest rates to counteract sluggishness in Japan’s longest-ever period of growth, but he has remained noncommittal about Japan’s trade surplus, which is expected to rise back up to about $100 billion this year.