Let me as a "politics" outsider as a complementary
question:

It strikes me that key to policy change is institutional policy capability, particularly for issues that either fall outside the purview of a single ministry, or that might shake up the status quo to the detriment of the career tracks that senior but not yet top people in a ministry may have developed. In the background is my understanding that over time the Cabinet Office has been gradually strengthened, in size and capabilities. Has that process stagnated under Kan (my guess is "yes")? Of course you may dispute my premise: independent of party cohesion and leadership, can we look for improved policy without (say) a stronger Naikaku-fu?

mike smitka, economics
washington and lee university=