Japan PM Reshuffles Cabinet, Keeps Key Ministers, Coalition Ally Gets Post

TOKYO, Sept 17 (Bernama-Kyodo) -- Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi reshuffled her Cabinet on Thursday, retaining many key ministers to ensure continuity while bringing in a new face from her party's coalition ally, Kyodo News reported.

The first Cabinet reshuffle since Takaichi took office last year comes before an extraordinary parliamentary session starting in October.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama, Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, and Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Minoru Kiuchi retained their posts.

Internal affairs minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, however, was replaced by Hisayuki Fujii, a Liberal Democratic Party member of the House of Representatives.

Hayashi, 65, who served as the right-hand man for former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and previously held the foreign and defence portfolios, is widely regarded as a potential contender in the LDP's leadership race next year.

Hayashi, along with Motegi, 70, and Koizumi, 45, all lost to Takaichi, 65, in the previous LDP leadership election. With two of the prime minister's rivals retaining their Cabinet posts, it will make it more difficult for them to turn against her.

Hiroshi Nakatsuka, formerly secretary general of the Japan Innovation Party, assumed the post of minister in charge of regulatory reform, administrative reform and policies related to children, becoming the first minister from the LDP's junior coalition partner.

The JIP, based in Osaka Prefecture, had been cooperating with the LDP from outside the Cabinet since the two conservative parties formed a coalition on October 20, ensuring that Takaichi secured the office of prime minister in a parliamentary vote the following day.

Support for the Cabinet of Takaichi, Japan's first female prime minister, has remained at around 50 per cent in recent months after starting at around 70 per cent.

Before revamping the Cabinet, Takaichi reshuffled the LDP's executives on Wednesday, retaining key figures such as Vice President Taro Aso, an influential former prime minister, as well as Secretary General Shunichi Suzuki.

Following the reshuffles, Takaichi's government and the LDP will prepare for an extra Diet session likely to be convened on October 5, during which a plan to reduce the consumption tax on food and beverages from 8 per cent to 1 per cent for two years from April will be deliberated.

Among other expected items is a controversial political reform bill aimed at cutting the number of lower house seats, which was tabled for further discussion after its submission by the ruling bloc during the previous Diet session sparked fierce criticism from opposition parties.

-- BERNAMA-KYODO