Tokyo, Sept. 16 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is set to unveil her second cabinet on Thursday, retaining most of her key ministers from the first cabinet. This will be her first cabinet reshuffle since taking office last October. Takaichi plans to reappoint Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara, 57, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, 70, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama, 67, and Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, 45. Takaichi is also expected to offer a cabinet position to Senate lawmaker Toshiharu Furukawa, 63, as requested by Upper House members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. The focal point is whether internal affairs minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, 65, who ran against Takaichi in last year’s LDP presidential election, will remain in the cabinet. The LDP’s coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, will send a member to the cabinet for the first time, with former party Secretary-General Hiroshi Nakatsuka, 70, set to assume a ministerial position. On Wednesday, Takaichi, president of the LDP, met with JIP leader and Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura at the prime minister’s office and formally asked the junior ruling party to join the cabinet. Yoshimura accepted the request, saying, “We will join the cabinet, share responsibility and advance policies.” The two party leaders agreed to seek the passage of bills to implement the planned consumption tax cut and reduce the number of seats in the House of Representatives during an extraordinary Diet session expected to be convened early next month. “Regulatory reform and administrative and fiscal reform are our fortes,” Yoshimura said at a press conference after the meeting. “We’ll play a role in areas that can’t be covered by the LDP alone.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
