Japanese Prime Minister 
Sanae Takaichi kept her core ministers in her first Cabinet reshuffle on Sept. 17 and brought the coalition partner Japan Innovation Party (JIP) into the Cabinet for the first time. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi stayed, while the JIP's Hiroshi Nakatsuka, 70, became minister in charge of regulatory reform. The reshuffle was aimed, the Korea Times reported, at solidifying the ruling coalition and advancing a food tax cut.
How did the JIP come to join? Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki said on Sept. 14 that Takaichi had decided to appoint Nakatsuka, then the JIP's secretary-general, CNA reported. The JIP formed a ruling coalition with the LDP last October but had preferred to cooperate from outside the Cabinet, despite repeated invitations from Takaichi. Suzuki said the move would further strengthen unity among the governing parties and help political stability. Nakatsuka, a three-term lower house member from Osaka, is a former mayor of Hirakata.
What did the prime minister say? At a news conference on the evening of the reshuffle, Takaichi said she chose ministers on ability, after reading questionnaires from LDP lower house members, and denied any link to next year's party leadership election, CNA reported. She said ministers handling diplomacy, economic and fiscal policy and growth strategy were kept on to speed up that work. She called Nakatsuka's appointment "a symbol that the LDP-JIP coalition has entered a new phase," the Japan Times reported.
What else changed? Internal Affairs Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, who ran against Takaichi in last year's LDP leadership race and was seen as a possible challenger, left the Cabinet. On Sept. 16, Vice President Taro Aso and Suzuki kept their party posts, but the LDP's upper house secretary-general, Junichi Ishii, was replaced; Takaichi denied intervening. Among seven first-time ministers are two lawmakers tied to the LDP's slush fund scandal, the first such appointments since it erupted in 2023, CNA reported. The new internal affairs minister is Hisayuki Fujii, and the justice minister is Takashi Yamashita.
Where does public support stand? In a survey conducted through Sept. 14, before the reshuffle, approval of the Takaichi Cabinet fell 4.3 points to 44.1%, the lowest since she took office, the Japan Times reported. The survey also found that 68.6% of respondents opposed a decision to appoint lawmakers involved in a slush fund scandal to key party or Cabinet posts.
Figures referenced: Sanae Takaichi. — JudgeMarket.
