Tokyo's Own White House; Japan's prime minister is hoping to bolster his inner circle at the expense of the bureaucrats.

Byline: Akiko Kashiwagi

Just days after Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office, North Korea conducted its first nuclear test, sparking what some politicians in Japan called an unprecedented national-security crisis. But ironically, the predicament is also helping Japan's new leader in a couple of ways. For one thing, Kim Jong Il's provocation has given Abe a perfect opportunity to institute the tough, resolute foreign policy he promised in his campaign. He swiftly announced the strictest economic sanctions ever imposed by Japan against Pyongyang-- a ban on all North Korean imports and ships, and most North Koreans themselves.

In explaining his policies to the Diet, Abe grabbed the attention of Japanese political analysts with his phrasing. "They [the sanctions] are what my cabinet will decide and [North Korea] should expect something severe," he declared. In a political culture where a vast bureaucracy and groupthink traditionally hold sway, the prime minister's declaration that "my cabinet will decide" was startling. The words were indicative of a much larger project--Abe's bold attempt to strengthen the powers and prerogatives of his office to resemble more closely the U.S. White House.

Upon taking office, Abe immediately created more than a dozen new posts and filled them with political appointees who, under the aegis of Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki, will help him formulate foreign, economic, education and North Korea policy. Abe also appointed a government spokesman, a job that did not exist before. Pundits have dubbed the group "Team Abe," and many of its members are relatively young politicians who share the prime minister's conservative views.

For decades, Japan has essentially been run by its vaunted but slow-moving bureaucracy, staffed by the elite graduates of top universities. Nestled in Kasumigaseki, Japan's Capitol Hill, they've quietly mapped the direction of the country, helped the politicians execute their plans--and sabotaged them at times, too. For Abe, who has never worked in the bureaucracy, to circumvent this system and try to rely instead on a powerful inner circle of advisers would be a watershed development--a genuine shift in the government's balance of power if successful. Whereas former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi enhanced his office mostly by dint of charismatic leadership, his successor has begun to do so institutionally. Already he's said to be limiting access to his office by bureaucrats to cement his own grip on policymaking, according to Japanese media reports.

Analysts say that to a degree, a shift of power toward the prime minister's office was inevitable. "Japan's level of participation in foreign affairs has become deeper and more complicated in recent years," says Yukio Okamoto, a former special adviser to prime ministers Koizumi and Ryutaro Hashimoto, and now a Tokyo-based political consultant. "The issues Japan has to deal with--from [U.S. bases in] Okinawa to North Korea--have become deeply entangled in Japan's domestic policies. Today, only the prime minister's office can deal with diplomatic and internal issues comprehensively." Policy options proffered by a multidisciplinary group close to the prime minister, Okamoto adds, would be preferable to those conceived by a single agency.

Abe, indeed, has appointed five special advisers to the prime minister. The most notable one, perhaps, is Yuriko Koike, special adviser for national-security affairs (following story). A skilled, effective politician, she has steadily risen up the ladder (serving most recently as Environment minister), but her latest job could be her hardest. Abe has made it clear that he intends to create a Japanese-style National Security Council based on the American and British models, one that can synthesize and streamline policy options for him. Both Koike and Shiozaki, who is also responsible for national security, are expected to lay the groundwork for an NSC in coming months. Currently staffed with only two executive assistants, Koike's office is expected to expand considerably once the cabinet law is revised to make possible additional hires.