Japanese Prime Minister 
Sanae Takaichi is expected to reshuffle her cabinet in mid-September, starting as early as Sept. 16, ahead of a Liberal Democratic Party leadership election due in autumn 2027. It would be her first reshuffle since she took office last October, and she is expected to keep Shunichi Suzuki as LDP secretary-general and Taro Aso as party vice president, CNA reported, citing NHK, the Yomiuri Shimbun, the Asahi Shimbun and the Nikkei. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara, a key policy coordinator whose political positions are close to hers, is also expected to stay on.
Suzuki, Aso's brother-in-law and a member of his faction, led the party to a large victory in the lower house election in February, CNA reported. The Aso faction is the only group in the LDP still operating as a faction, while Takaichi, who long stayed outside the factions, has a relatively shallow base in the party and wants both men's continued cooperation to strengthen it. She and Aso had lunch at the prime minister's office on Aug. 25, a meeting observers believe may also have covered whether he wishes to remain vice president. Some analysts see keeping Suzuki and the partnership with Aso as an important foundation for her bid for re-election as party president.
The reshuffle is a reset that will affect her management of party dynamics, the future of the ruling coalition and her prospects of remaining in power beyond next year, the Japan Times reported. Reshuffles come roughly once a year under LDP-led governments and are typically used to manage intraparty dealings, influence public opinion and restructure legislative priorities. With the leadership election scheduled for autumn next year, this will likely be her last opportunity to reshape the cabinet before that race.
The timetable depends on the cabinet approving a tax reform outline, including a two-year cut to the consumption tax on food, on Sept. 15, CNA reported. Government officials have told LDP leaders that, if it passes on schedule, the changes would come over Sept. 16-18, with party executives, the cabinet, and vice ministers and parliamentary secretaries filled in that order. Takaichi wants the reshuffle done before she travels to New York for the UN General Assembly later in September. She is also seen as wanting Japan Innovation Party members in her cabinet, and the party's leader, Hirofumi Yoshimura, said in late August that it would join if the prime minister formally invited it.
Figures referenced: Sanae Takaichi. — JudgeMarket.
