Members of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan approved on Monday the selection of new Prime Minister Naoto Kan's DPJ executives, with the influence of party kingpin Ichiro Ozawa conspicuously absent.
Kan plans to launch his government Tuesday with most of the Cabinet ministers under his predecessor, Yukio Hatoyama, keeping their posts.
In a bid to distance the DPJ from the political money scandals involving Ozawa, Kan appointed government revitalization minister Yukio Edano as party secretary general to replace the "shadow shogun."