Shigeru Ishiba, tapped to be Japan's next prime minister, may cause diplomatic headaches for the U.S. with proposals to revamp Tokyo's closest alliance by locking Washington into an "Asian NATO" and stationing Japanese troops on U.

Japan's next prime minister Shigeru Ishiba says he reads three books a day and would rather do that than mingle with the ruling party colleagues who picked him as their new leader on Friday. The 67-year-old's successful leadership bid after four failed attempts puts the self-confessed lone wolf at the helm of a Liberal Democratic Party that has ruled Japan for most of the past seven decades.

Former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba, a plain-spoken populist, won leadership of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party in a runoff vote on Friday.