Not even a week into the Hatoyama government, it is clear that Foreign Minister Okada Katsuya will be a force to be reckoned with in the new cabinet.Even before the government formed, Okada raised the alarm that the new national strategy bureau would encroach on his turf in foreign policy making — prompting Hatoyama Yukio …
Tag: Hatoyama cabinet
The Hatoyama government fills more positions and gets to work
On Friday the Hatoyama cabinet met and continued its work of reforming Japan's policymaking system.The cabinet decided to create the national strategy office under the leadership of Kan Naoto, pending legislation to elevate the office to a full bureau attached to the cabinet. Another cabinet decision created the Administrative Renovation Council (ARC), which will nominally …
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The first day of the new era in Japanese politics
The DPJ wasted no time following the election of Hatoyama Yukio as prime minister Wednesday.His cabinet lineup established, the DPJ-led government immediately set to work establishing a new relationship between the cabinet, DPJ backbenchers, and the bureaucracy.Regarding the DPJ, its internal organizations, and its numerous backbenchers, the new government announced several measures to strip the …
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Japan has a new prime minister
Following in the footsteps of Hatoyama Ichiro, his grandfather, Hatoyama Yukio has been elected as Japan's ninety-third prime minister, a moment being compared by Hatoyama and others to great turning points in Japan's history.Whether this moment proves worthy of such a description will depend on the new prime minister and his cabinet. He inherits a …
Hatoyama delivers an impressive cabinet
The votes are being counted in the House of Representatives, after which the House of Councillors will vote for the new prime minister. Hatoyama Yukio's election as the next prime minister is assured.On the eve of his election by the Diet, Hatoyama decided the presumptive lineup of his cabinet — but he did not share …
The strengths and weakness of Mr. Hatoyama’s government
After meeting with Ozawa Ichiro Monday, it appears that Hatoyama Yukio will get Fujii Hirohisa as his finance minister after all. The party's executive board — comprised of the inner circle of party leaders, including Hatoyama, Ozawa, Kan Naoto, and Okada Katsuya — has approved the roster, which will now go before the party's board …
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Transition troubles
The work of picking a cabinet is done, said Hatoyama Yukio Sunday. He is scheduled to meet with Ozawa Ichiro Monday to finalize the lineup.It seems that Ozawa and Hatoyama are in disagreement over the appointment of Fujii Hirohisa as finance minister, perhaps because Fujii — despite having been close with Ozawa throughout the 1990s, …
Let the refueling mission end
Addressing a question from the press regarding Japan's new government, Defense Department spokesman Geoff Morrell said Wednesday, "I think that with regards to the Indian Ocean refueling mission, we have greatly benefited from — as has the world, for that matter — from Japan's participation in those efforts, and we would very much encourage them …
The Hatoyama system takes shape
The coalition with the SDPJ and the PNP cemented, the DPJ is getting to work filling in the rest of the cabinet.One question is what posts the SDPJ's Fukushima Mizuho and PNP's Kamei Shizuka will fill. The SDPJ has requested either the ministry of health, labor, and welfare or, it seems, the environment portfolio. Despite …
Assembling the new coalition government
The DPJ has been in intense negotiations with the Social Democratic Party of Japan (SDPJ) and the People's New Party (PNP) to finalize the terms of their coalition government.The DPJ's goal in negotiations is naturally to minimize the disruptiveness from having two parties (and their internal politics) interfere with the DPJ's plans for a streamlined …
Tobias S. Harris 