Sep 25 07:01 AM US/EasternTOKYO, Sept. 25 (AP) - (Kyodo)—New Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba is a tough debater on national security issues and is sometimes called a military "geek" for his detailed knowledge of weapons.
Ishiba demonstrated his expertise in the area through Diet deliberations on Japan's first war-related contingency laws and the Iraq support law, both enacted in 2003, while serving as director general of the former Defense Agency for two years through September 2004.
On the current controversy over whether Japan should continue its refueling mission in the Indian Ocean as part of U.S.-led antiterrorism operations in and around Afghanistan, Ishiba has admitted on recent TV shows that there is not enough time to extend the existing law allowing the mission beyond its Nov. 1 deadline. He apologized and said the ruling party was at fault for not having dealt with the issue earlier.
A son of the late Home Affairs Minister Jiro Ishiba, who started his career as a Mitsui Bank clerk after graduating from Keio University, Ishiba, 50, is serving his seventh term in the House of Representatives.
Elected from Tottori Prefecture in western Japan, he belongs to the second largest Liberal Democratic Party faction headed by Yuji Tsushima. He was lately deputy chairman of the party's Policy Research Council.
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