Factbox: Key facts about Japanese PM Naoto Kan

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who defeated powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa in a party leadership vote on Tuesday, must now try to unify the party while coping with a strong yen, weak economy, big public debt and divided parliament.

Following are key facts about Kan.

-- Kan, 63, took over from his unpopular predecessor Yukio Hatoyama in June, becoming Japan's fifth premier in three years. Seen as a pragmatist, he began with high support rates but his abrupt proposal to debate a possible rise in the 5 percent sales tax to mend government finances contributed to the ruling bloc's loss of majority in the upper house.

-- After a stint as finance minister, Kan became a vocal advocate of the need to come up with a credible long-term fiscal reform plan. He has vowed to cap spending and borrowing and debate the proposed sales tax rise in an effort to rein in public debt already twice the size of Japan's $5 trillion economy.

-- The 63-year-old veteran lawmaker, who founded the Democratic Party with Hatoyama more than a decade ago, shot to fame as health minister in the 1990s, when he battled bureaucrats to expose a scandal over HIV-tainted blood products. He has been known for a short temper and sharp debating skills.

-- Kan, the son of a businessman, with a passion for mahjong and an everyman image, began his career as a grassroots activist, campaigning for a prominent feminist lawmaker before seeking a seat in parliament. He lost three times before winning a seat for a small, leftist party.

-- Kan is said to hone his debating skills at the dinner table with his wife, Nobuko, a sharp-tongued mother of two who often campaigns on the streets on her husband's behalf. Asked to comment on a book Nobuko published recently about their life together, Kan said: "I'm too scared to read it."

-- Perhaps because he's been on the defensive, Kan's image as a fiery debater has faded of late. On Tuesday, he showed a flash of his old self in a last appeal, asserting what mattered most in politics was voters' trust. "If people trust the Democratic Party, they can understand policy proposals even if they are tough. We can overcome the deadlock only when we can get the public to trust this party."

(Reporting by Yoko Nishikawa and Linda Sieg; Editing by Chris Gallagher)