Japan's 'Team Abe' seeks centralised policy power

TOKYO, Sep 28 (Reuters) Japan's new Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, is modeling his inner circle on the White House by appointing a core group of advisers to centralise policy-making.

Some analysts wonder, though, whether the result will be stronger leadership or more confusion.

Abe, a popular 52-year-old hawk who wants to boost Japan's say in world affairs and revive respect for traditional values at home, took over this week from Junichiro Koizumi, becoming Japan's youngest Prime Minister since World War Two.

Some media have dubbed the new administration ''Team Abe'', reflecting both his penchant for rewarding allies with posts and a consensual decision-making style that contrasts with the top-down leadership of his combative predecessor.

''Prime Minister Koizumi took the lead, alone,'' Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki told reporters this week. ''Prime Minister Abe will of course take the lead, but I think he is also trying to draw on the wisdom and strength of various people.'' Abe, who faces the challenges of repairing ties with China and South Korea, fixing Japan's fragile public finances and preparing for a national election next year, filled his cabinet with close allies but included few political heavyweights.

At the same time, Abe created a team of five special advisers on issues such as national security, economic and fiscal policy, and his pet project of education reform in an effort to give the Prime Minister's office greater control over policy.

Some commentators, like the conservative Sankei newspaper, agreed that Japan's past practice of letting government ministries make policy was outmoded, but warned it would take time for the new structure to function well.

Others said the new structure itself appeared flawed.

''It looks as if he didn't have enough cabinet posts to go around, so he appointed more advisers,'' said Koiichi Nakano, an associate political science professor at Sophia University.

''It doesn't look like a rational way to proceed.'' DIFFUSING DECISION-MAKING? Among the inner circle as an adviser on public relations is upper house lawmaker Hiroshige Seko, a former PR official at telecoms giant NTT and a media strategist for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Former Environment Minister Yuriko Koike will have a brief for national security, making her a potential counterpart to White House National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley.

Lone wolf Koizumi shunned the tradition of leaving policy decisions to ruling party panels and bureaucrats, mobilising a government structure altered by a predecessor, Ryutaro Hashimoto, to centralise decisions in the premier's hands, analysts said.

''Koizumi's reason for success was that he inherited the institutional reforms implemented by Hashimoto and used the new institutions effectively,'' Nakano said.

''He didn't have to start building new institutions.'' What happens if cabinet ministers clash with advisers at the Prime Minister's office is unclear.

''Don't ask me, ask Prime Minister Abe,'' Foreign Minister Taro Aso told a TV interviewer when asked about the division of power.

LDP heavyweights such as Secretary-General Hidenao Nakagawa will also have hefty clout in policy-making, potentially watering down the influence of cabinet ministers such as reformist Economics Minister Hiroko Ota, analysts said.

''Reigning at the top is ... Nakagawa, whom I personally view as the shadow Prime Minister for economic policies,'' wrote Morgan Stanley economist Takehiro Sato in a report.

With party barons, cabinet ministers and aides in the Prime Minister's office vying for influence, decision-making could become less efficient, not more, critics said.

''Is this a policy of divide and rule? Do you diffuse decision-making power, or do you focus it?'' asked Jesper Koll, chief economist at Merrill Lynch in Tokyo.

''It looks more like a diffusion of policy-making.'' REUTERS SAM DS1255