Takaichi Eyes Cabinet Portfolio Changes in Reshuffle

Tokyo, Sept. 10 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi plans to reorganize the portfolios of ministers in a cabinet reshuffle, with the aim of streamlining overlapping roles and clarifying responsibilities, sources said Thursday. She is considering having one cabinet member serve as both reconstruction minister and minister in charge of disaster management, and another as both digital transformation minister and minister in charge of artificial intelligence strategy. There is also a proposal to create a new ministerial post in charge of consumption tax reduction. “The ministers’ responsibilities are increasing, so we will streamline them,” a senior government official said. “We will consolidate posts whose roles have been completed, while creating new ones where necessary.” In the field of disaster management, Takao Makino serves as reconstruction minister and Jiro Akama holds the post of disaster management minister. Takaichi wants to draw on the expertise of the Reconstruction Agency, which handles reconstruction programs following the March 2011 earthquake that mainly struck northeastern Japan, in the work of the disaster management agency, set to be launched by the end of the year. “The prime minister’s view is that reconstruction and disaster management should be integrated,” a government source said. In the field of AI, digital transformation minister Hisashi Matsumoto is in charge of implementing AI in government agencies, while artificial intelligence strategy minister Kimi Onoda is tasked with promoting research and development. There are growing calls within the government for a single minister to handle AI-related matters to centralize the government’s role as a command center function for AI policy. A bill to cut the consumption tax rate on food to 1 pct for two years starting next April is expected to be the main focus of the extraordinary parliament session to be convened in early October at the earliest. The tax cut is positioned as a stopgap measure until the full introduction of an income-pegged benefits system. A proposal has emerged to create a ministerial post so that a single minister can respond to parliamentary questions on both the tax cut and the benefits system. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]