Takaichi to Reshuffle LDP Leadership Wed., Cabinet Thurs.

Tokyo, Sept. 15 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who also heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, announced Tuesday that she will reshuffle the party’s leadership team Wednesday and the cabinet Thursday. The announcement was made at a meeting of LDP executives held at the party’s headquarters in Tokyo. Party executives on Sept. 8 agreed to leave personnel-related decisions up to Takaichi. The prime minister is expected to retain LDP Vice President Taro Aso, 85, Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki, 73, and policy chief Takayuki Kobayashi, 51. Former Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hideki Murai, 46, is seen becoming the party’s parliamentary affairs chief. For her cabinet, which was initially launched in October 2025, Takaichi is planning to keep Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara, 57, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama, 67, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, 70, and Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, 45, in their current posts. Hiroshi Nakatsuka, 70, secretary-general of the Japan Innovation Party, the coalition partner of the LDP, will likely join Takaichi’s reshuffled cabinet. The JIP, which formed the partnership with the LDP last October, has so far refrained from sending any of its members to the cabinet. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]