Japan's Harvard-educated foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi has PM ambitions

Japan's new foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi was the only change from the Cabinet that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida appointed last month. - Reuters

TOKYO (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): Japan's new foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi hopes to follow in the footsteps of his ally, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, to one day land the top job as the nation's leader.

Hayashi, 60, has served as Kishida's right-hand lieutenant through thick and thin. He was a key strategist for the PM's losing bid to become chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) last year, and again in the successful attempt this year.