On the first day of the Lower House Budget Committee session last week, Nobuteru Ishihara, secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, chose to deride the growing power of Yoshito Sengoku, chief Cabinet secretary of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan.
Ishihara had pressed Prime Minister Naoto Kan for further answers on the diplomatic row with China over the Senkaku Islands. But before Kan could reply, Sengoku took the stand.
"I read in a magazine article that there are two prime ministers in the official residence," Ishihara said of Sengoku's move. "I think that is the case."