The prime minister has announced that he will be reshuffling his cabinet and the LDP leadership on Friday afternoon, 1 Aug, after meeting with Komeito’s Ota Akihiro in the morning.

Of course Mr. Fukuda had to pick the afternoon of my departure from Japan to reshuffle his cabinet.

If the reshuffle is done expeditiously, I will try to give my thoughts from Narita before departure; otherwise you’ll have to wait until I’m on the ground in the US.