Of course, the next test of the DPJ will be the House of Councilors election in July. We have yet to see if they can resurrect the key messages that billowed their sails when the Democrats coasted to victory last year.

Kan has repeated his goal of reigning in the powerful Japanese bureaucracy in favor of elected politicians. This alone could have profound implications to the running of the country, but its effect remains to be seen, because reform in Japan always seems to proceed at a glacial pace.

Although the structure of the Cabinet and the policy direction of Kan seems unchanged, the new Cabinet does reflect one remarkable shift of power: Ichiro Ozawa no longer has the power over the Cabinet that he enjoyed under Hatoyama. This is largely because Ozawa is under a corruption probe that threatens to make the new government look like it is playing dirty, undermining the DPJ’s good-government promises just ahead of a key election.

Kan is taking great care to rid these insiders from the mix, and as a result his initial approval ratings have been remarkably boosted to 60%, well up from outgoing prime minister Hatoyama’s 20% approval rating last week. To keep its squeaky-clean image alive, the new DPJ Secretary-General has already promised a ban on all corporate or organizational donations to political campaigns.

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