The nation's top bureaucrats on Monday held their last meeting under the government of Prime Minister Taro Aso to set the agenda for the following day's Cabinet meeting.
It was possibly the final such ritual because the Democratic Party of Japan, which will take the reins of government Wednesday, has vowed to shift power from bureaucrats to politicians.
The meetings of administrative vice ministers, held in the prime minister's office Mondays and Thursdays — the days before Cabinet meetings — are believed to date back to the establishment of the Cabinet structure during the Meiji Era (1868-1912) and have long been a symbol of bureaucratic control over the decision-making process.