Fresh faces for Japan's leadership under Kan
Source: Agencies |
June 8, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
JAPAN'S ruling party selected a fresh leadership lineup yesterday, clearing the way for Prime Minister-elect Naoto Kan to name a new Cabinet and begin tackling a host of delicate issues left over after the abrupt resignation of his predecessor.
Kan, who was elected prime minister in a parliamentary vote last week, will begin his tenure with a roster of new faces in the top party positions. But he was expected to retain most of the Cabinet of outgoing leader Yukio Hatoyama.
Hatoyama stepped down last week after failing to keep a campaign promise to move a United States military base off the southern island of Okinawa. The move was sudden but not completely unexpected - with crucial elections in the upper house of parliament scheduled for next month, many in the party felt his plunging popularity would make him a major liability.
The biggest change in Kan's administration will be Yukio Edano, who served as reform minister and will take over as the ruling Democratic Party's secretary general. That post was previously held by the powerful but unpopular Ichiro Ozawa, who also announced his resignation last week, over a funding scandal. Ozawa has high disapproval ratings among the public.
Named to the party's other senior posts were Koichiro Genba, who takes over as head of its policy formulation panel, and Shinji Tarutoko, a rising star who challenged Kan for the party's top spot in elections after Hatoyama resigned.
Media reports said Kan was likely to keep Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa. The finance portfolio that Kan held in Hatoyama's Cabinet was expected to go to Senior Vice Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda.
Kan spoke by phone with President Barack Obama on Sunday and stressed the importance of his country's alliance with Washington, while promising to implement an agreement to relocate Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.
Under an agreement between the two governments, the base is to be moved to a less-crowded part of Okinawa, but Kan faces intense opposition from island residents who want it moved off Okinawa completely, as Hatoyama had promised.
Kan, who was elected prime minister in a parliamentary vote last week, will begin his tenure with a roster of new faces in the top party positions. But he was expected to retain most of the Cabinet of outgoing leader Yukio Hatoyama.
Hatoyama stepped down last week after failing to keep a campaign promise to move a United States military base off the southern island of Okinawa. The move was sudden but not completely unexpected - with crucial elections in the upper house of parliament scheduled for next month, many in the party felt his plunging popularity would make him a major liability.
The biggest change in Kan's administration will be Yukio Edano, who served as reform minister and will take over as the ruling Democratic Party's secretary general. That post was previously held by the powerful but unpopular Ichiro Ozawa, who also announced his resignation last week, over a funding scandal. Ozawa has high disapproval ratings among the public.
Named to the party's other senior posts were Koichiro Genba, who takes over as head of its policy formulation panel, and Shinji Tarutoko, a rising star who challenged Kan for the party's top spot in elections after Hatoyama resigned.
Media reports said Kan was likely to keep Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa. The finance portfolio that Kan held in Hatoyama's Cabinet was expected to go to Senior Vice Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda.
Kan spoke by phone with President Barack Obama on Sunday and stressed the importance of his country's alliance with Washington, while promising to implement an agreement to relocate Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.
Under an agreement between the two governments, the base is to be moved to a less-crowded part of Okinawa, but Kan faces intense opposition from island residents who want it moved off Okinawa completely, as Hatoyama had promised.
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