New govt. moves to tackle bureaucracy

TOKYO, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- The newly elected DPJ has resolved the issue of the U.S.-Japanese alliance and will now address its campaign promise to control the bureaucracy, officials said.

Before Sunday's elections to the lower house of the Japanese parliament, which it won by a huge margin, the Democratic Party of Japan had promised voters it would bring the powerful bureaucracy under the authority of lawmakers.

The Democrats immediately set on that task by challenging the appointment of a retired Land Ministry official to the consumer affairs agency by the lame duck Liberal Democratic Party government of Prime Minister Taro Aso, The New York Times reported. The report quoted a party official as telling the Asahi Shimbun the appointment may be reversed after the DPJ formally takes charge this month.

The Times said the campaign promise on bureaucracy paid off for the DPJ, as voters are frustrated with the country's insider-driven politics. However, the report said many former bureaucrats and political analysts do not think the new party can easily resolve the issue, as the current system has been in control for decades.

The postwar history of Japan shows the bureaucracy did an outstanding job of bringing about Japan's so-called economic miracle, the report said. The current public frustration results from various corruption scandals and the failure to end Japan's economic stagnation.

On foreign policy, Yukio Hatoyama, the DPJ president who is expected to become prime minister, spoke to U.S. President Barack Obama by telephone Thursday, Kyodo News said. The two agreed to maintain the bilateral alliance, with Hatoyama saying he wants to build ''constructive, future-oriented Japan-U.S. relations."