Friday, September 02, 2011

The Noda Cabinet - First Impressions

- The glass ceiling is still in evidence. Two women in the Cabinet, one in the "soft" Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the other, a State Minister for Administrative Reform.

- A fully political cabinet - no civilian members.

- Payoff time. To the coalition partner People's New Party,: reappointment of Jimi Shozaburo as Minister of Financial Services and Postal Reform (Will the PNP finally get its dream of legislation rolling back of Koizumi era postal reforms?). To the Ozawa supporters in the DPJ: the appointment of Yamaoka Kenji, Ozawa's right hand man, to the chairmanship of the National Public Safety Commission. To Kano Michihiko, for getting at least some of his supporters to vote for Prime Minister Noda in the second round of the DPJ leadership election: reappointment to the post of Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (kiss the TPP goodbye!).

- So young in the big posts! Azumi Jun (49) is Finance Minister. Gemba Koichiro (47) is Foreign Minister. With the reappointments of Hirano Tatsuo and Goshi Hirono, it is time to reread "Prosperity's Children: Generational Change and Japan's Future Leadership by Boyd and Samuels.

- Ren Ho! Ren Ho! Ren Ho!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I also expect the National Strategy Minister Furukawa Motohisa could play a big role too. 5 Cabinet Ministers under 50 - can't happen too often?

Isabella said...
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John Mock said...

5 Cabinet Ministers under 50 may be the best characteristic of this cabinet.