TOKYO —

Japan’s new cabinet, led by the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, has decided to allow bureaucrats to hold press conferences in principle, reversing its decision of less than a week ago to prohibit them, DPJ lawmakers said Monday. While administrative vice ministers at government ministries will be banned from holding regular press conferences where the top bureaucrats tend to make ‘‘political remarks,’’ they will be allowed to meet the press if they receive approval from their ministers, they said.
   
Other bureaucrats will also be permitted to brief reporters on facts about issues they are in charge of, such as accidents and diplomatic negotiations. Last Wednesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano said the government would ban administrative vice ministers from holding their own press conferences. The announcement followed an agreement among cabinet ministers after their first meeting that they would speak to reporters about their ministries’ policies as part of the DPJ’s election pledge to create a government based on leadership by politicians.
   
As a result, press meetings planned by top ministry bureaucrats for Thursday, including one by the Japanese ambassador to the United States, were canceled.
   
The cancellation prompted the press and other pundits to complain that the ban could limit the people’s right to know.
 

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2 Comments

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  sk4ek at 08:39 AM JST - 22nd September

  A big wave meets an immovable object. Gee, that didn't take long, did it?

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  Scrote at 11:15 AM JST - 22nd September

  It won't be long before the bureaucrats are briefing against the government.

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