Abe to retain key ministers for stable policy management
Abe is expected to appoint Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato as a new minister in charge of "achieving a society in which all 100 million people in the nation can play active roles," especially when the premier aims to spark economic growth as he shifts his policy priority to the economy from security. Kato plans to double as minister tasked with addressing North Korea's abduction of Japanese nationals, as well as minister in charge of women's empowerment, according to sources close to the prime minister's office. The Cabinet has suffered a sharp fall in public support in recent months over the coalition's push to enact contentious security legislation, while its effort to stimulate the economy through the "Abenomics" policy mix is stumbling in the face of the global economic slowdown. Earlier Wednesday, Abe kept Secretary General Sadakazu Tanigaki and four other executives of his Liberal Democratic Party. The four others are Vice President Masahiko Komura, Policy Research Council Chairwoman Tomomi Inada, General Council Chairman Toshihiro Nikai, and Election Strategy Committee Chairman Toshimitsu Motegi. Last month Abe won another three-year term as LDP president, thereby also extending his term as prime minister, when no other candidate secured enough backing to run against him in a party presidential election. In the new Cabinet lineup to be announced in the afternoon, Abe is expected to retain about half of the current 19 Cabinet members, including Finance Minister Taro Aso, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and Akira Amari, minister of economic and fiscal policy. Shigeru Ishiba, a potential rival to Abe, is likely to stay on as minister for regional revitalization, according to the sources. His fate had been closely watched amid speculation that he might leave the Cabinet. Ishiba recently launched an intra-party faction in the hope of raising his standing as a potential successor to Abe. Despite the prime minister's initiative to promote a greater role for women in society, the number of women ministers is expected to fall by one to three, the sources said. He is expected to retain Sanae Takaichi, minister of internal affairs and communications, and appoint Tamayo Marukawa, a TV newscaster-turned-politician who serves as chairwoman of the upper house Health, Labor and Welfare Committee, as the environment minister. Aiko Shimajiri, chairwoman of the upper house Environment Committee, is to take up the post of minister for Okinawa and Northern Territories affairs. Among other portfolios, Abe is set to appoint Motoo Hayashi, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Rules and Administration, as minister of economy, trade and industry, and Hiroshi Moriyama, chairman of an LDP panel on the Trans-Pacific Partnership tree trade initiative, as minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries. Defense Minister Gen Nakatani, Yasuhisa Shiozaki, minister of health, labor and welfare, and Toshiaki Endo, minister in charge of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, are likely to retain their posts. Abe will continue to give one Cabinet post to the Komeito party, the LDP's junior coalition partner. Komeito policy chief Keiichi Ishii is set to replace former Komeito leader Akihiro Ota as minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism.
