Ranking officials at the Foreign Ministry appear more preoccupied with presenting Prime Minister Taro Aso as dexterous at diplomacy than promoting the national interest. One official has confided that it is now their turn to return the favor given to them when Aso was foreign minister.
Before Aso headed the ministry, its bureaucrats had had bitter experiences with two previous foreign ministers: Makiko Tanaka, who locked horns with them, and Yoriko Kawaguchi, who was such a political lightweight that they had little to gain from her.
When Aso got the foreign affairs portfolio in 2005, Foreign Ministry bureaucrats rejoiced as he was a politician who could become a leading candidate to take the reins of government. Indeed, Aso helped realize some long-cherished dreams of bureaucrats by promoting liberalism and the market economy, strengthening Japan's relations with countries like Australia and India, and visiting the Mideast and Latin America.