Takaichi’s Cabinet Lineup Strikes Hawkish Note

Tokyo, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)–The lineup of new Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s cabinet, launched Tuesday, appears to reflect her eagerness to foster reconciliation within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, as well as her readiness to pursue hawkish policies. All four of Takaichi’s rivals in the Oct. 4 party presidential election were granted key cabinet or party posts. Ryosei Akazawa, a close aide to Shigeru Ishiba, her immediate predecessor, was named industry minister. Meanwhile, four members of the new cabinet were among Takaichi’s nominators in the party election, including Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama and economic security minister Kimi Onoda. Many new cabinet members, also including Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara and economic growth strategy minister Minoru Kiuchi, are “all conservatives close to Takaichi,” an LDP heavyweight said. On the eve of Takaichi’s election as prime minister on Tuesday, the LDP and Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) signed a coalition agreement featuring hawkish policies. Nippon Ishin, formerly a group of LDP members in the Osaka prefectural assembly, agreed to form a coalition with the LDP after Komeito ended its 26-year partnership with the LDP following Takaichi’s victory in the LDP leadership election. The LDP-Nippon Ishin agreement calls for revising Japan’s three key security documents and possessing a “submarine that uses next-generation power,” namely a nuclear-powered submarine. The two parties also agreed on the abolition of rules limiting the transfer of defense equipment to noncombat purposes during next year’s ordinary Diet session, a measure that Komeito has opposed. Elsewhere in the coalition agreement are the early establishment of an anti-espionage law, the introduction during fiscal 2026 of a constitutional revision proposal to establish an emergency clause, and the goal of revising the Imperial House Law during the next ordinary session to allow male children in the paternal line of former Imperial Family branches to regain their Imperial Family status. One party that has been re-energized by the launch of the LDP-Nippon Ishin coalition is the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, which struggle to highlight the differences between its polices and those of the previous LDP-Komeito coalition. At a meeting of party lawmakers on Tuesday, CDP Secretary-General Jun Azumi called on Komeito and other opposition parties to join forces, saying, “We’ll confront the Takaichi administration, which is strengthening the right-wing shift, and aim to unite centrist forces.” The Takaichi administration’s weak point is its lack of a cabinet member from Nippon Ishin, which opted to provide support from outside the cabinet, citing the need to assess whether the agreed policies will be implemented. Furthermore, the LDP-led ruling bloc still lacks a majority in both chambers of the Diet, and it will need to seek help from other parties in order to enact a fiscal 2025 supplementary budget and achieve a 10 pct reduction in the number of lawmakers in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, by the end of the ongoing extraordinary Diet session. “I can’t imagine how the coalition government can survive the ongoing Diet session,” a Nippon Ishin official said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]