Japan's likely next PM mulls Cabinet lineup

Japan's likely next prime minister huddled with senior members of his party to finalize his Cabinet selections Tuesday as parliament prepared to formally install him as the country's next leader.

Parliament was to elect Yukio Hatoyama in a vote in its lower house Wednesday, ending more than 50 years of almost unbroken rule by the pro-U.S., pro-big business Liberal Democratic Party.

Hatoyama told reporters Tuesday morning that he planned to announce his Cabinet after a general meeting later in the day by lawmakers from his left-of-center Democratic Party of Japan. Ahead of that meeting, he met with party leaders to go over his list of Cabinet nominees.

Several major newspapers said he has decided to appoint the conservative head of one of his coalition partners as either defense chief or head of the postal savings system - a hot-button domestic issue - and a senior party ally as head of finance.

Hatoyama, the Stanford-educated grandson of a conservative prime minister, is virtually assured of winning Wednesday's vote because his party has 308 of the lower chamber's 480 seats.

Prime Minister Taro Aso and his Cabinet were expected to resign en masse early Wednesday to pave the way for the parliament vote.

The Asahi and other major newspapers reported Tuesday that Hatoyama has settled on Shizuka Kamei as defense or postal minister. Kamei heads the People's New Party, one of two small parties that have joined the Democrats in a coalition to lead the new government.

The Democratic Party had no official comment pending the formal announcement of the positions.

The defense post is especially important because Japan is negotiating a major realignment of U.S. forces throughout the country, including the movement of 8,000 Marines from the southern island of Okinawa to the tiny Pacific territory of Guam. About 50,000 U.S. troops are in Japan under a mutual security pact.

In another key post, Hirohisa Fujii is expected to become finance minister, Japan's Kyodo news reported.

Fujii, 77, was a bureaucrat in the powerful Finance Ministry and served as finance minister for the two Cabinets under a 1993-1994 coalition government - the only other time since 1955 when the Liberal Democrats were not in power.

Fujii will be crucial in making good on Hatoyama's promises to turn around Japan's economy, which is in its worst slump since World War II.

Media have also reported that Katsuya Okada, a former bureaucrat in the trade ministry who has never held a Cabinet post, will take the foreign ministry portfolio.

Hatoyama has promised to develop closer ties with Japan's Asian neighbors while forging a more independent stance with Washington, Japan's main ally and close trading partner.