New gov't to set up bodies for greater political leadership on Fri.+

TOKYO, Sept. 17 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Thursday his government will set up the
Administrative Reform Council and a national strategy office on Friday to
quickly translate into action his administration's policy of asserting greater
political control over the bureaucracy.

Hatoyama also said he and other key ministers in his Cabinet will hold the
first Cabinet committee meeting on Friday to review the supplementary budget
for the current fiscal year, which was compiled by the previous administration
led by the Liberal Democratic Party, with an aim to suspend part of the
allocations and divert them for the new administration's key policy items.
''The budget is very important for the people, so we want to define the nature
of the supplementary budget,'' Hatoyama, also leader of the ruling Democratic
Party of Japan, told reporters, adding that the decision made by the panel will
be taken up during a Cabinet meeting to be held immediately afterward, he said.
The reform council, which will replace the government's Council on Economic and
Fiscal Policy, is aimed at getting rid of government spending deemed wasteful
to make room for new spending proposals, while the strategy office is expected
to devise basic policies on the contours of taxation and finance and of the
nation's economic management.
Hatoyama, Deputy Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who concurrently serves as state
minister for national strategy, Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii and Chief
Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano will take part in Friday's Cabinet committee.
A Cabinet committee is seen by administration members as a key tool to take
decision-making power away from bureaucrats and put it into the hands of
politicians.
As part of effort to implement policies with greater political leadership, the
government on Wednesday also abolished the administrative vice ministers'
meeting, which has long set the agenda for Cabinet meetings.
Meanwhile, as the Hatoyama Cabinet started business in full swing, newly
appointed ministers also underwent the handover process with their
predecessors.
At the Finance Ministry, Fujii told his predecessor Kaoru Yosano he will make
sure ''not to make any mistakes'' in handling the country's economy and
finances.
Fujii later delivered a speech directed to senior ministry officials,
underscoring the importance of Japan's bureaucracy as professionals in public
administration but not meddling in politics.
He also told reporters, after talking with Kan and other relevant ministers, he
would like to suspend the fiscal 2009 supplementary budget as soon as possible.
The new administration plans to raise trillions of yen by suspending part of
the extra budget to help finance child allowances and other spending
initiatives of the DPJ.
Mizuho Fukushima, new state minister in charge of the declining birthrate, met
with her predecessor Yuko Obuchi, who is expected to give birth to her second
child next week, at the Cabinet Office.
''Congratulations!'' Fukushima, also leader of the Social Democratic Party,
told Obuchi, while Obuchi reciprocated, ''Congratulations (on assuming the
ministerial post)!''
The SDP is one of the coalition partners of Hatoyama's DPJ.
During the transition meeting between Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and his
predecessor Hirofumi Nakasone, issues that could become touchy between the new
administration and the United States quickly emerged as a topic.
While Okada said at a press conference shortly after taking the post that the
new government will ''not simply extend'' the antiterrorism refueling mission
in the Indian Ocean, despite calls from Washington for an extension, Nakasone
called for ''a sensible decision.''
But Okada said, laughing, that the point is ''what a sensible idea is.''
Former farm minister Shigeru Ishiba, meanwhile, told his successor Hirotaka
Akamatsu, holding a thick batch of documents, that he wanted to pass on to the
new minister key issues the ministry is facing.
Akamatsu said at a press conference later he wants to launch a new farm subsidy
system in fiscal 2011 to cover an excess of costs over sales revenues for
farming families.
At the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, around 200 officials were waiting
for the arrival of new minister Akira Nagatsuma, who is known for his tough
stance toward bureaucrats, near the main entrance, but they did not applaud
upon his arrival.
Hatoyama himself met with Tsuyoshi Takagi, president of the Japanese Trade
Union Confederation, known as Rengo, at the prime minister's office, vowing to
tackle the employment issue by securing significant jobs.
''The employment issue is a quite important challenge,'' the new premier was
quoted as telling Takagi.
Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Kazuhiro Haraguchi said at a news
conference he would like to start discussions promptly on how to reform the
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. group amid increasingly intensified
competition in the global market.
He also indicated he will consider creating a Japanese version of the U.S.
Federal Communications Commission to undertake telecommunications and
broadcasting administration to be separated from his ministry.
==Kyodo