Tokyo, Oct. 15 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Thursday appointed Arata Takebe of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party as the new agriculture minister following the resignation of his embattled predecessor, Kazuo Yana. Takebe, 56, a former state minister of agriculture, officially took office after an attestation ceremony at the Imperial Palace in the afternoon. Takaichi told reporters that Takebe is “well-versed in the administration of agriculture, forestry and fisheries” and “able to contribute immediately, including in handling parliamentary affairs.” In light of Yana’s controversial remarks on budget cuts for municipalities whose mayors did not support him in a general election, Takebe said that it is necessary to promote “policies with a high degree of fairness.” Takebe has been elected to the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, six times. His father, Tsutomu, once served as secretary-general of the LDP and as agriculture minister. On Thursday, the LDP and the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan agreed to hold meetings of the Budget Committee of the Senate, the upper chamber, on Friday and Monday as scheduled. In the Lower House, the opposition camp requested that the prime minister attend plenary and committee meetings on the consumption tax cut bill. However, the LDP rejected this reqeust, failing to schedule the start of deliberations on the bill for Tuesday. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
