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2 Japan's Abe tries to make a new
start By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Fresh from a resounding defeat in
parliamentary elections a month ago and desperate
to reverse his sagging popularity and that of his
ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Japanese Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe reshuffled his cabinet and
revamped the LDP leadership.
Abe has
resisted calls for his resignation from the
opposition and even from some people within his
own party, vowing to push through reforms. Abe's
LDP-led coalition lost a majority in the
House of Councilors by a
large margin, but it still commands more than a
two-thirds majority in the House of
Representatives, the more powerful lower house.
"I humbly take to heart the people's harsh
judgment as reflected in last month's election. I
therefore went ahead to reshuffle my cabinet and
party leadership in order to make a new start for
nation-building and implementing reforms," Abe
said at a press conference on Monday night after
his new cabinet's inauguration.
Kaoru
Yosano, 69, the new chief cabinet secretary and a
former economic and fiscal policy minister, said
of the new cabinet lineup: "In order to carry out
the work [as ministers], both political experience
as well as a wide spectrum of insight and
knowledge are necessary."
The new top
government spokesman added, however, "There's no
magic bullet that can improve the disapproval
rating at once. It's through making persistent
efforts and fulfilling our tasks one by one that
public support will be restored for the first
time."
Yosano concurrently serves as
minister in charge of resolving the issue of North
Korean abductions of Japanese nationals. He has a
reputation for being a good coordinator and
policy-savvy politician.
Among other
veteran lawmakers brought into the new cabinet,
former foreign minister Nobutaka Machimura has
assumed the post again, and Masahiko Komura, 65,
another former foreign minister, has become
defense minister. Former defense chief Fukushiro
Nukaga, 63, has been appointed finance minister.
Yoichi Masuzoe, 58, a former political
commentator who currently serves as an Upper House
member, has became health, labor and welfare
minister. Abe picked a non-parliamentarian -
former Iwate governor Hiroya Masuda, 55 - as
internal affairs and communications minister.
Kunio Hatoyama, 58, who has formerly
served as education and labor ministers, has been
appointed justice minister. Takehiko Endo, 68, a
former senior vice farm minister, has been named
agriculture, forestry and fisheries minister.
Ichiro Kamoshita, 58, a former senior vice labor
minister, has become environment minister.
Fumio Kishida, 50, has become minister in
charge of Okinawa and Northern Territories issues.
Former Transport Ministry bureaucrat Shinya Izumi,
70, has been appointed chairman of the National
Public Safety Commission, and Yoko Kamikawa, 54, a
Harvard graduate, has become minister in charge of
tackling declining birth rates.
Abe
retained five of his 17 ministers in his previous
cabinet. The five who have kept their portfolios
are Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akira
Amari, 58; Education, Culture, Sports, Science and
Technology Minister Bunmei Ibuki, 69; Economic and
Fiscal Policy Minister Hiroko Ota, 53; Regulatory
Reform Minister Yoshimi Watanabe, 55; and Land,
Infrastructure and Transport Minister Tetsuzo
Fuyushiba, 71. Fuyushiba is from the LDP's junior
coalition partner New Komeito.
Meanwhile,
Abe, who doubles as LDP president, appointed
foreign minister Taro Aso, 66, as LDP secretary
general, the party's second-in-command. As for the
two other most influential party posts, Toshihiro
Nikai, 68, chairman of the LDP's Diet Affairs
Committee, has become chairman of the LDP's
General Council, the party's top decision-making
body, while Nobuteru Ishihara, 50, acting party
secretary general, has become chairman of the
Policy Research Council. Ishihara is a son of
outspoken nationalist Tokyo Governor Shintaro
Ishihara and close to Abe.
Before Monday's
reshuffle, Abe had repeatedly said he would not
form the new cabinet along party-faction lines.
But aside from Yosano and Masuzoe, who do not
belong to any LDP factions, the premier has
brought in many party heavyweights, including many
faction leaders, into his new team, in an apparent
bid to secure a party unity and keep a lid on the
pressure for him to step down ahead of the next
general election, which is due before September
2009.
The LDP-led coalition suffered a
devastating defeat in the July 29 election amid
strong public anger over the government's
pension-records-keeping fiasco and a series of
gaffes and political funds-related scandals
involving some of Abe's ministers. Three of
ministers in Abe's previous cabinet were forced to
resign, and one committed suicide.
Abe has
faced a barrage of criticism from the public as
well as opposition parties for failing to handle
properly those scandals and
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