Moody's warns Japan about Kan!

Bloomberg reports, Moody’s Warns on Japan’s Fiscal Discipline Under Kan:

The replacement of Japan’s finance minister four months into the government’s term increases concern about the commitment to contain the world’s largest public debt burden, Moody’s Investors Service said.

“Japan’s fiscal strategy unknowns deepen” with the appointment of Naoto Kan last week, Thomas Byrne, senior vice president of Moody’s in Singapore, wrote in a note yesterday ...

“The revolving door for leadership at the Ministry of Finance does not engender confidence that Japan will put together a credible fiscal strategy to reduce deficits and stabilize the massive government debt overhang in the medium term,” Byrne said.

Some facts listed in the article:

• "Moody’s rates Japan’s debt at Aa2, the third-highest investment grade, with a stable outlook."
• "Local residents held 94 percent of Japanese government bonds as of June, Finance Ministry data show."
• "Yields on the benchmark 10-year note fell 1 basis point to 1.35 percent in Tokyo yesterday. They reached a two-month high of 1.365 percent on Jan. 8, the day after Kan was appointed."

According to a Morgan Stanely strategist quoted in the article, Finance Minister Naoto Kan is not a "fiscal expansionist." Hm. Okay.