Siegfried Knittel writes about the weakness of Japanese prime ministers:

"To change this change game Japanese prime minister should have a stronger position by law. They should have the right to say what other minister have to do. The must have the right to formulate the direction of the policy. This is what primeminister in other country like uk can do. Tony Blair was the leader of British government, even when the party was against his Irak policy."

This is no longer a legal matter. Legally the PM has long been authorized to dissolve the HR and call for new elections, an authority that could be used as a whip; and also to fire members of the cabinet. Since the reforms initiated by Nakasone in the 1980s, and especially those by Hashimoto in the late 1990s, the position of the PM has been legally strengthened, such as the authority to initiate policies in cabinet meetings (and not just sum up the consensus of the meetings). Ironically, as Esteves-Abe (in an ASIAN SURVEY article) and others have pointed out, Koizumi, who defeated Hashimoto in the election to the LDP presidency of the LDP (and thus the PM-ship in) 2001, made good use of the new empowerment of the PM courtesy of the Hashimoto reforms, in exercising an affirmative leadership.

Thus, as Siegfried Knittel suggests, the explanation should be searched elsewhere.

Ehud Harari