After Naoto Kan's resignation in August 2011, Noda stood as a candidate in the party election to replace him.
He won a runoff vote against Banri Kaieda in the leadership election, making him the presumptive prime minister.
He inherited the challenge of rebuilding from the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

During the party caucus making the leadership decision, Noda made a 15-minute speech in which he summarized his political career by comparing himself to dojo loach, a kind of bottom-feeding fish.
Paraphrasing a poem by Mitsuo Aida, he said, "I'll never be a goldfish in a scarlet robe, but like a loach in muddy waters.
I'll work hard for the people, to move politics forward."
The "loach speech" was popular among his colleagues and cemented his political reputation at the start of his term.

Noda was said to have close relations with the United States, and stressed the importance of the US-Japan security alliance in an August 2011 speech.
On 15 August 2011 —the anniversary of the Surrender of Japan in World War II, he said that Japan's class A war criminals convicted by the Allies were not legally war criminals under his view.
As prime minister he stated that his position on this issue would follow the standard set by previous administrations, and that he did not wish to alter Japan's close relationship with China and Korea.
After Naoto Kan's resignation in August 2011, Noda stood as a candidate in the party election to replace him. He won a runoff vote against Banri Kaieda in the leadership election, making him the presumptive prime minister. He inherited the challenge of rebuilding from the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
During the party caucus making the leadership decision, Noda made a 15-minute speech in which he summarized his political career by comparing himself to dojo loach, a kind of bottom-feeding fish. Paraphrasing a poem by Mitsuo Aida, he said, "I'll never be a goldfish in a scarlet robe, but like a loach in muddy waters. I'll work hard for the people, to move politics forward." The "loach speech" was popular among his colleagues and cemented his political reputation at the start of his term.
Noda was said to have close relations with the United States, and stressed the importance of the US-Japan security alliance in an August 2011 speech. On 15 August 2011 —the anniversary of the Surrender of Japan in World War II, he said that Japan's class A war criminals convicted by the Allies were not legally war criminals under his view. As prime minister he stated that his position on this issue would follow the standard set by previous administrations, and that he did not wish to alter Japan's close relationship with China and Korea.
Yoshihiko Noda