Tokyo, Japan (CNN) -- It was not a quiet weekend for the prime minister of Japan, facing a diplomatic test abroad from China and questions at home about his leadership. Sitting down with CNN -- his first interview with an international television network -- Prime Minister Naoto Kan answered wide-ranging questions from pressing economic issues leading up to the upcoming APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit, to the diplomatic challenges from economic superpower China. Kan is a leader looking for a path out of a maze of domestic and international hurdles. He faces the monetary monster that is the sharply rising yen, that's prompting corporations like Toyota and Nissan to push production and jobs outside of Japan. Diplomatically, he is in the middle of a major test with China, a country wielding growing strength in the world economy, and a superpower that's just surpassed Japan in economic might. Japan is in an ongoing dispute with China over islands in the South China S