Japan PM reshuffles Cabinet, keeps key ministers, coalition ally gets post
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The reshuffle signalled prioritising continuity as Sanae Takaichi enters the second year of her premiership.
PHOTO: AFP
TOKYO – Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi reshuffled her Cabinet on Sept 17 for the first time since taking office in 2025, retaining many key ministers to ensure continuity while bringing in a new face from her party’s coalition ally.
The line-up appears to reflect Takaichi’s wish to give the key portfolios of finance, diplomacy and defence to trusted hands ahead of an extraordinary parliamentary session where a bill to implement a consumption tax cut is expected to be deliberated, and as the government plans to update key security-related documents.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama and Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi retained their posts.
Economic and fiscal policy minister Minoru Kiuchi and economic security minister Kimi Onoda also stayed on, but internal affairs minister Yoshimasa Hayashi was replaced by Hisayuki Fujii, a Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) member of the House of Representatives, leaving the Cabinet.
The fate of Hayashi, 65, who served as the right-hand man for former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and previously held the foreign and defence portfolios, was a major focal point since he is widely seen as a potential contender in the LDP’s leadership race in 2027.
Hayashi, along with Motegi, 70, and Koizumi, 45, all lost to Takaichi, 65, in the previous LDP leadership election. With two of the prime minister’s rivals retaining their Cabinet posts, it will make it more difficult for them to turn against her.
Hiroshi Nakatsuka, formerly secretary-general of the Japan Innovation Party (JIP), assumed the post of minister in charge of regulatory reform, administrative reform and policies related to children, becoming the first minister from the LDP’s junior coalition partner.
The JIP, based in Osaka prefecture, had been cooperating with the LDP from outside the Cabinet since the two conservative parties formed a coalition in October 2025, ensuring that Takaichi secured the office of prime minister in a parliamentary vote the following day.
Of the 18 ministers other than Takaichi, eight were retained, seven were first-time appointees and three returned to the Cabinet. The number of women remains unchanged at two – Katayama and Onoda.
Yoshihiro Seki was named education minister and Kazuo Yana farm minister, making them the first lawmakers disciplined by the LDP over a high-profile political slush fund scandal that emerged in late 2023 and dealt the party a heavy blow to be appointed to the Cabinet.
Among the other new faces, Hiroyoshi Sasagawa was tapped as environment minister, and Tatsunori Ibayashi was given the post of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism minister.
Support for the Cabinet of Takaichi, Japan’s first female prime minister, has remained at around 50 per cent in recent months after starting at around 70 per cent.
Before revamping the Cabinet, Takaichi reshuffled the LDP’s executives on Sept 16, retaining key figures such as Vice-President Taro Aso, an influential former prime minister, as well as Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki.
Following the reshuffles, Takaichi’s government and the LDP will prepare for the extraordinary Diet session likely to be convened on Oct 5, during which lawmakers will deliberate a plan to reduce the consumption tax on food and beverages from 8 per cent to 1 per cent for two years starting in April.
Among other expected items is a controversial political reform Bill aimed at cutting the number of Lower House seats, which was tabled for further discussion after its submission by the ruling bloc during the previous Diet session sparked fierce criticism from opposition parties.
On Sept 18, Takaichi is expected to appoint new senior vice-ministers and parliamentary vice-ministers for government ministries. KYODO NEWS