New Kan Cabinet

Well, seems the boss didn't wait until Monday to let the cat out of the bag...

Kan sacks under-fire duo from top Cabinet posts.

In fact, he let six members of the former naikaku (Cabinet) go and did some swapping around. Here are the big changes:

Yukio Edano, who served as acting secretary-general of the governing party, to replace Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku.

Kaoru Yosano, an independent member of the House of Representatives who has just left the opposition Sunrise Party, as state minister for tax and social security reform and economic and fiscal policy.

Former House of Councillors President Satsuki Eda was named as justice minister, while former House of Representatives Vice Speaker Kansei Nakano was given the post of National Public Safety Commission chairman and state minister for the issues of abduction of Japanese nationals by North Korea and civil service reform.

Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Sumio Mabuchi, another Cabinet minister slapped with a censure motion, was replaced by Akihiro Ohata, who served as economy, trade and industry minister in the previous Kan Cabinet.

State Minister for Economic and Fiscal Policy Banri Kaieda, who supports the government's bid to participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, replaced Ohata who is skeptical about the move.

Mostly all for the better, I do believe. There was some talk that replacing Y. Sengoku was to be a sop to the party faction that still backs I. Ozawa in his struggles with the Kan-led party leadership; nope, that wasn't what happened:

The prime minister clarified his stance to eliminate the influence of DPJ heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa, who faces indictment over a political funding scandal, from the party by replacing staunch Ozawa opponent Sengoku with Edano, who is also critical of Ozawa.

To support Edano, who became the youngest chief Cabinet secretary in history at age 46, 78-year-old DPJ legislator Hirohisa Fujii, who had served as finance minister, was named as deputy chief Cabinet secretary, a rare post for a former Cabinet member to be given.

Brought up a Young Gun and supplied him with the support of one of the most respected men in the DPJ. No win for Ozawa there, none at all.

Very, very promising.