A month in office, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama appears to face difficulty in effecting his key slogan of reducing, if not eliminating, the government's heavy reliance on the bureaucracy, due mainly to confusion as to who will take the lead andwith how much power.
In leading his Democratic Party of Japan to a big victory in the Aug. 30 general election, he pledged to create a "National Strategy Bureau" responsible for mapping out a vision for the nation's future and for the budgetary outline.
After being named to head the government, Hatoyama chose long-term colleague Naoto Kan as deputy prime minister for national strategy and economic and fiscal policy. According to some insiders, though, Kan was not happy with the appointment and did not understand what was in Hatoyama's mind. It was rumored that Kan had wanted the post of chief Cabinet secretary.