Japan's new PM to curb power of kingmaker Ozawa

New Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan is likely to keep his predecessor's cabinet with only minor changes but is moving to curb the influence of powerful backroom fixer Ichiro Ozawa, reports said yesterday.
The former finance minister has announced the appointment of two critics of Ozawa -- dubbed the "Shadow Shogun" -- to top posts before formally unveiling his new cabinet, probably on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama has telephoned Japan's new leader Naoto Kan to congratulate him and to pledge co-operation, amid tensions over a US military base on the island of Okinawa.
Tokyo officials said Kan had promised to make "strenuous efforts" to resolve the issue.
Japan's previous government resigned after failing to implement an election pledge to move the US base off Okinawa.
Many residents on the island resent the military presence.
Kan is likely to name his former deputy, 52-year-old fiscal hawk Yoshihiko Noda, to head the finance ministry as pressure mounts to revive the world's number two economy and slash mounting public debt, media reported.
Otherwise he plans to retain the main cabinet members including Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, Defence Minister Toshimi Kitazawa and Transport Minister Seiji Maehara.
Kan, who became prime minister Friday, told reporters he would appoint Yukio Edano, a 46-year-old critic of Ozawa, as secretary general of his ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), the top post after party leader.
Yoshito Sengoku, 64, will become chief cabinet secretary, the prime minister's right-hand man and top government spokesman.
Ozawa was seen as the real power behind outgoing prime minister Yukio Hatoyama, who announced his resignation last week after less than nine months in office amid a row over a US airbase and political funding scandals.
"I would like to maintain transparency and fairness to lead the party," Edano told reporters.
Ozawa, 68, was the architect of the August electoral earthquake that swept out the conservative Liberal Democratic Party after more than half a century of almost unbroken rule.