入閣

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 入閣 is a noun read にゅうかく, meaning entry into a government cabinet or a cabinet appointment. The verbal form is 入閣する, with the past form 入閣した.
• Basic usage: It can state that someone joined a cabinet for the first time or identify cabinet appointments as the focus of political maneuvering and discussion.
  • 物語の中で、若い議員が初めて入閣した。 describes a young legislator joining the cabinet for the first time in a story; 入閣をめぐる駆け引きが劇の中心になっている。 says that maneuvering over cabinet appointments is central to the play.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• 初めて入閣した
  • 初めて says that this was the legislator's first cabinet appointment, not the first such appointment for all young legislators.
• 入閣をめぐる
  • をめぐる modifies the following noun by presenting cabinet appointments as the issue around which competing interests and maneuvering occur.
• 入閣 and 就任
  • 就任 broadly means taking up many kinds of office, while 入閣 is specifically limited to becoming a member of a cabinet.