cabinet

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Koizumi reshuffles his cabinet

Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro reshuffled his cabinet on October 31. It is made up of would-be successors of Koizumi reform policy as well as politicians who hold Yasukuni Shrine's view on history.

Koizumi appointed Abe Shinzo as Chief Cabinet Secretary. Abe is known as a hardliner who denounces the present Constitution as being bound with a post-war spell. In answering reporters' questions, he made clear that he will keep visiting war-glorifying Yasukuni Shrine, stating, "Following the prime minister, I as a Japanese citizen and politician have visited the shrine. I want to maintain this belief."

Aso Taro, who was appointed to be the new Foreign Minister, once stated that Korean people under Japan's colonial rule adopted Japanese surnames because "they wanted to do so."

Nukaga Fukushiro, who has pushed ahead with the Japan-U.S. Security Consultative Committee (two plus two) from the pro-U.S. standpoint, is the state minister for defense (Defense Agency Director General).

Tanigaki Sadakazu remained in his post as Finance Minister. He advocates a consumption tax increase, saying, "Whoever becomes prime minister, an increase in the consumption tax will be inevitable."

Yosano Kaoru, who proposed that the consumption tax rate be increased to 10-15 percent from the present five percent, joined the Cabinet as the Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy and the Minister of State for Financial Services.

Takenaka Heizo, a promoter of postal privatization, continued to be the state minister in charge of privatizing postal services and the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications. He is determined to further promote the reform policies in the interests of the United States and business circles. -- Akahata, November 1, 2005

Lineup of the new Cabinet is as follows:

Prime Minister, Koizumi Jun'ichiro

Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications,
Minister of State for Privatization of the Postal Services, Takenaka Heizo

Minister of Justice, Sugiura Seiken

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Aso Taro

Minister of Finance, Tanigaki Sadakazu

Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology,
Kosaka Kenji

Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare, Kawasaki Jiro

Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Nakagawa Shoichi

Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Nikai Toshihiro

Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Kitagawa Kazuo

Minister of the Environment,
Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs,
Minister in Charge of Global Environmental Problems, Koike Yuriko

Chief Cabinet Secretary, Abe Shinzo

Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission,
Minister of State for Disaster Management,
Minister of State for National Emergency Legislation, Kutsukake Tetsuo

Minister of State for Defense, Nukaga Fukushiro

Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy,
Minister of State for Financial Services, Yosano Kaoru

Minister of State for Regulatory Reform,
Minister of State for Administrative Reform
Minister of State for Special Zones for Structural Reform,
Minister of State for Regional Revitalization, Chuma Koki

Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy,
Minister of State for Food Safety,
Minister of State for Information Technology, Matsuda Iwao

Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Measures for Declining Birthrate,
Minister of State for Gender Equality, Inoguchi Kuniko