Japan Press Weekly

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2014 September 3 - 9 TOP3 [POLITICS]

Abe forms his Cabinet with members of pro-Yasukuni parliamentarians’ group

Out of the 19 ministers in the reshuffled second Abe Cabinet, 15, including Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, are members of a parliamentarians’ group supporting the war-glorifying Nippon Kaigi (Japan Conference).

This came out in materials of the inter-parliamentary group that Akahata obtained.

In February 2013, Prime Minister Abe and Deputy Prime Minister Aso Taro began to serve as special advisors to the group. Internal Affairs Minister Takaichi Sanae, Education Minister Shimomura Hakubun, and Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide accepted the position as the group’s vice chairs.

Nippon Kaigi was inaugurated in 1997 by bringing together various rightist groups glorifying Japan’s past war of aggression and working to revise the pacifist Japanese Constitution.

The organization has also been objecting to measures for gender equality and the legalization of the use of separate surnames by married couples. It criticizes local governments’ ordinances promoting gender equality as a denial of traditional gender roles and causing a deterioration in the family environment surrounding children.

As an example of women’s active participation in society, a key part of Abe’s growth strategy, Abe included five female ministers in his new Cabinet. Of them, Arimura Haruko, minister in charge of female empowerment, is also a member of the parliamentary group for Nippon Kaigi.


Past related article:
> Rightist ministers make up 80% of Abe Cabinet [January 5, 2012]