Fumio Kishida promised ‘drastic’ economic measures after reshuffling his cabinet. (File)
Tokyo:
Japan’s prime minister promised “drastic” economic measures on Wednesday after reshuffling his cabinet and increasing the number of female ministers in a bid to boost his declining popularity.
Fumio Kishida’s poll numbers and standing within the ruling party have fallen since he took office in October 2021, with voters hit by rising prices in the world’s third-largest economy.
Support for the government was only 36 percent, according to a poll published by broadcaster NHK on Monday. Another survey found that most voters were dissatisfied with efforts to tackle inflation.
Prime Minister Kishida said on Wednesday he will task his new cabinet with a “drastic” economic package to tackle the impact of rising prices on voters.
“As for economic measures, we must take drastic economic measures backed by the necessary budget under the new Cabinet team and implement them as quickly as possible. I want this to be our top priority,” Mr Kishida told a news conference. .
He remained with his economic team in the reshuffle, with Shunichi Suzuki remaining finance minister and Yasutoshi Nishimura still in charge of economy and industry.
But the overhaul made Yoko Kamikawa, a 70-year-old former justice minister, Japan’s first female foreign minister since 2004. She is one of five women in the new cabinet, equaling the previous highest number in Japanese political history.
Minoru Kihara, 54, became defense minister just as Japan is strengthening its military to deal with the growing threat from North Korea and deteriorating relations with China.
Minoru Kihara is a senior member of a nonpartisan group focused on promoting ties with Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing considers part of China.
Factions
Fumio Kishida, 66, will seek re-election next year as president of the quarrelsome Liberal Democratic Party, which has dominated Japanese politics for decades.
The reshuffle aims to make his re-election “more likely by increasing public support (and) ensuring that factions within the LDP continue to support him,” Brad Glosserman of the Pacific Forum research institute told AFP.
Other analysts said the changes were small and reduced the chances of Kishida calling early elections this year.
“(It) turned out that many of the key ministers and LDP administrators have remained the same, and it doesn’t seem like a ‘new look’ for Japanese citizens,” Shin Sato, associate professor of Japanese politics at Tokyo Metropolitan University, told AFP . .
Public support for Mr Kishida has also been hit in recent months by issues such as the problematic new ‘My Number Card’ identification system.
There was also a scandal surrounding “inappropriate behavior” by Fumio Kishida’s son, who was removed from his position as his father’s secretary this year.
Magazine photos showed guests at a party hosted by Shotaro Kishida pretending to hold a press conference while one lay on a red carpet staircase.
‘Rank hypocrisy’
Five of the nineteen ministers in the reshuffled cabinet are women, compared to two previously.
Fumio Kishida’s government adopted new rules in June that require top listed companies to have at least one female director by 2025 and that women must make up 30 percent of corporate boards by 2030.
But Mr. Kishida’s reshuffle “is an attempt to counter the outright hypocrisy by which successive administrations call for greater women’s participation in business, yet provide virtually no representation in the Cabinet,” Brad Glosserman said.
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