Sanae Takaichi

Japan's new prime minister will be formally elected by parliament on Oct. 1 following next week's leadership contest, a ruling party official said on Wednesday.

Polls indicate that three frontrunners are emerging among the nine candidates to succeed Fumio Kishida as head of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in the Sept. 27 internal vote.

Japan's leadership race kicked off on Thursday with a record nine candidates, including the surfing son of a former prime minister and an arch-nationalist, vying to be the first woman premier.

TOKYO - Serbian Minister of Economy Adrijana Mesarovic met with Japanese Minister of State for Economic Security Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo on Thursday, expressing the hope they would work together on boosting bilateral economic ties to open up mutually beneficial opportunities for citizens and companies.

Five Japanese journalists accused Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government on March 24 of pressuring broadcasters to reduce criticism of its policies, but also lamented what they called a failure by media to live up to their convictions.