U.S. confident ties to Japan will flourish

OAK BLUFFS, Massachusetts (Reuters) - The White House said on Sunday it was confident the strong relationship between the United States and Japan would continue under the new government in Tokyo.

"We are confident that the strong U.S.-Japan Alliance and the close partnership between our two countries will continue to flourish under the leadership of the next government in Tokyo," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement.

"President (Barack) Obama looks forward to working closely with the new Japanese prime minister on a broad range of global, regional and bilateral issues," he said.

Japanese voters swept the opposition to a historic victory in an election on Sunday, ousting the ruling conservative party and handing the untested Democrats the job of breathing life into a struggling economy.

The win by the Democratic Party of Japan ended a half-century of almost unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party and breaks a deadlock in parliament, ushering in a government that has promised to focus spending on consumers, cut wasteful budget outlays and reduce the power of bureaucrats.

(Editing by Bill Trott)