Prime Minister-elect Yoshihiko Noda is looking to form an administrative team that satisfies loyalists of disgraced Democratic Party of Japan kingpin Ichiro Ozawa and his own allies, and one main task will be picking a right-hand man to fill the shoes of Yukio Edano, the departing chief Cabinet secretary.
Various names were floated Wednesday for that and other posts, among them former education minister Tatsuo Kawabata, a DPJ veteran who has also served as the party's secretary general and Diet affairs chief.
Others rumored for the position include Katsuya Okada, another ex-DPJ secretary general, and Osamu Fujimura, a close Noda aide.