Politics watchers all over Japan have been shocked by the first week of the new Fukuda administration, which has been completely unmarked by any form of controversy whatsoever.

Even the revolving door at the Ministry of Agriculture appears to have stopped spinning. When asked how the new Agriculture Minister had managed to hold on to the particularly slippery job for over a week, a ministry insider was quoted as saying “He must be lost somewhere in the building.”

“We’ve been watching the exits,” said an anonymous senior journalist, “but the silence is eerie.” After the fireworks of the Abe government, observers are growing suspicious after this week’s lack of resignations. “We can only hope that things settle back in their usual pattern next week, and that the ministerial exodus starts up again,” he added.

With no daily cabinet dismissals to report, the morning news programmes and daily newspapers have been caught on the hop and have had to content themselves with the last resort of reporting international affairs.