FACTBOX: Possible candidates to run for next Japan PM

TOKYO (Reuters) - Following the resignation of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party is looking for a new leader.

Below are some senior LDP lawmakers seen as possible candidates to replace Fukuda:

TARO ASO, 67

Also, the LDP's comic-book loving secretary-general, assumed the party's No.2 position in August when Fukuda reshuffled his cabinet and party executives.

Aso lost to Fukuda in the race for the party's presidency after former premier Shinzo Abe's resignation a year ago.

He is seen as less concerned than Fukuda about controlling Japan's ballooning debt, after he expressed doubts last month about keeping to the government target of balancing the budget by 2012, suggesting that could damage the already fragile economy.

Aso, who served as foreign minister and LDP secretary-general under Abe, is seen as a hawk. He has said there is nothing wrong with discussing whether Japan, the only country to suffer an atomic bombing, should possess nuclear weapons.

But he has also said he would stay away from Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan's war dead but is seen by many in Asia as a symbol of the nation's past militarism.

His brash manner has provoked controversy. Aso was forced to apologize over a flippant remark about Alzheimer's disease last year and stirred anger in the two Koreas in 2003 for remarks seen as praising Japan's 1919-1945 colonization of the peninsula.

KAORU YOSANO, 70

Yosano, a veteran conservative politician, was tapped as economics minister in Fukuda's cabinet reshuffle and led the government's efforts to compile an economic package last week.

Asked about the possibility of running for the top post, Yosano said he was "not thinking about anything yet".

He is seen as a fiscal conservative and a vocal advocate of a higher consumption tax rate to restore battered public finances.

Yosano and his fellow LDP lawmakers published a report in June that said the sales tax rate needed to be doubled from 5 percent to at least 10 percent by around 2015.

But some LDP lawmakers argue that the government should cut wasteful spending and boost growth to increase tax revenue, before opting for a tax hike.

Grandson of two well-known poets and a graduate of the prestigious University of Tokyo, Yosano started his political career in 1968 by joining the office of Yasuhiro Nakasone, who was prime minister in the 1980s.

YURIKO KOIKE, 56

A former TV announcer who is fluent in English and Arabic, Koike served briefly as Japan's first woman defense minister last year as well as a national security adviser to then-Prime Minister Abe.

As environment minister, she launched a "Cool Biz" campaign to encourage office workers to dress more casually in summer to cut down air-conditioner use and help fight global warming.

While Aso is seen as the most likely candidate to succeed Fukuda, Japanese media have reported that some within the LDP are pushing for Koike, among them party heavyweight Hidenao Nakagawa.

She told Reuters in an interview in May she wanted to focus on the environment, women's issues and mobilizing Japan's massive private financial assets.

Koike is on an LDP panel mapping out a long-term economic and political vision and led by Nakagawa, who wants to prioritize economic growth over tax hikes in fixing public finances.

She has a record of switching parties. Her career began in the opposition and she was once a protege of Ichiro Ozawa, now leader of the main opposition Democratic Party.

SEIKO NODA, 47 (TURNS 48 ON SEPT. 3)

Appointed posts and telecoms minister at 37 and tipped early in her career as having the potential to be Japan's first female prime minister, Noda lost prominence after speaking out against postal reforms by then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

She left the LDP to stand as an independent in a 2005 election called by Koizumi to resolve the subsequent row that split the party, but returned to the fold as consumer affairs minister in Fukuda's cabinet.

Noda has been leading preparations to create a new agency overseeing consumer safety affairs after a public outcry over a series of food safety scandals.

She has called for fiscal reform to rein in public debt, arguing that semi-governmental agencies should stop issuing "zaito" bonds to finance fiscal investment and loan programs, thus freeing up more money for investment in the private sector.

NOBUTERU ISHIHARA, 51

A reporter turned politician, Ishihara is the son of outspoken nationalist Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, but is seen as having more moderate views.

An advocate of sweeping reform of the bureaucracy, he has served as transport minister and minister for administrative reform. His brothers include television actor Yoshizumi and fellow politician Hirotaka.

(Reporting by Yuzo Saeki and Isabel Reynolds; Editing by Michael Watson)