But more than half of this "independent" agency's staff will come directly from the ministry, with the remainder from the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission, an arm of the MOF.

CNN: Misreading Japan

"I believe that politicians, who have long been dependent on MOF officials in their decision-making, will use the current heat to boost their power, " says Kobayashi Yoshiaki, a political scientist at Keio University.

CNN: WHAT NEXT JAPAN?

The MOF is torn.

FORBES: IMF Raises Alarms over Japan's Dangerous Fiscal Course

The most fundamental is that within a few years existing and new issue government debt may absorb all private savings (corporate and household) in Japan, making foreign borrowing inevitable and creating a terrifying scenario of higher yields demanded by foreigners raising MOF interest costs while inflicting portfolio losses on JGB holders, and putting fiscal balance further (infinitely?) beyond reach, with (by then) predictably horrendous consequences.

FORBES: IMF Raises Alarms over Japan's Dangerous Fiscal Course