Japan gets new defense minister

TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida shuffled his Cabinet and key party posts on Wednesday to strengthen his position before a key party leadership vote next year, bringing in a new defense minister and the country’s first female foreign minister since 2002.

Kishida appointed five women to the 19-member Cabinet, part of his attempt to buoy sagging support ratings for his previous male-dominated Cabinet, which had two women. The five females match the number in two earlier Japanese Cabinets — in 2001 and 2014.

One of the five, former Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa, who approved the hangings in 2018 of a cult leader and six aides for a deadly 1995 subway nerve gas attack, was appointed foreign minister, replacing Yoshimasa Hayashi.

Minoru Kihara, who has been serving on the governing Liberal Democratic Party’s national security committee, was selected as defense minister, replacing Yasukazu Hamada.

Kishida said the new Cabinet reflects his determination to adapt to recent rapid economic, security and technological changes — and turn those into national strengths.

“There is a huge flow of change in front of us,” Kishida said at a news conference after the Cabinet’s swearing-in ceremony. “We cannot stand still just watching all these changes.”

Kishida said three pillars of his policy goals are an end to deflation, stronger diplomacy and security, and measures to address Japan’s rapidly aging and declining population.

It is the second Cabinet shuffle since Kishida took office in October 2021, when he promised a fairer distribution of economic growth, measures to tackle Japan’s declining population and a stronger national defense. Russia’s war against Ukraine , rising energy prices and Japan’s soaring defense costs have created challenges in his tenure, keeping his support ratings at low levels.

Kishida’s three-year term as the conservative LDP’s president expires in September 2024, when he is expected to seek a second term. His faction in the party is the fourth largest, so he must stay on good terms with the others to maintain his position.

He distributed Cabinet posts to reflect that balance of power, with nearly half of the positions going to the two largest factions associated with assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and former leader Taro Aso.

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki, Digital Reform Minister Taro Kono, and Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi were among six ministers who stayed.

The LDP supports traditional family values and gender roles, and the low number of female politicians in leadership positions is often criticized by women’s rights groups as democracy without women.

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel welcomed the new Cabinet. “These appointments will bring a level of freshness, a level of energy and purposefulness in that endeavor that started two years ago” as Japan and the United States continue to elevate their security ties, Emanuel said in a telephone interview.

Opposition leaders expressed disappointment in the new Cabinet. “We recognize the increase of female ministers to five, but otherwise, [the new Cabinet[ conveys no sense of what it actually wants to achieve,” said Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan executive Katsuya Okada.

Kishida told reporters Wednesday that he plans to compile a new economic package by the end of October to deal with rising gasoline and food prices.

Two people who lost posts in the shakeup had been touched by recent scandals.

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tetsuro Nomura was reprimanded by Kishida and apologized after calling treated radioactive wastewater being released from the Fukushima nuclear power plant “contaminated,” a term China uses to characterize the water as unsafe. And magazine reports have alleged that Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiji Kihara influenced a police investigation of his wife over her ex-husband’s suspicious death.

Kishida last shuffled his Cabinet a year ago after Abe’s assassination revealed ties between senior governing party members and the Unification Church, a South Korea-based conservative religious group.

东京——日本首相岸田文雄周三改组内阁和党内要职，以巩固其在明年关键的党魁选举前的地位，任命了新的防卫大臣和自2002年以来日本首位女性外长。

岸田大作任命了五名女性进入19人内阁，此举旨在提振其此前以男性为主、仅有两名女性的内阁的低迷支持率。这五名女性的人数与日本此前两届内阁（2001年和2014年）的女性内阁人数相同。

五人之一，前法务大臣上川洋子，曾于 2018 年批准对一名邪教头目及其六名助手执行绞刑，他们因 1995 年地铁神经毒气袭击事件而被判处死刑。她被任命为外务大臣，接替林佳正。

曾任执政自民党国家安全委员会委员的木原实被选为防卫大臣，接替滨田康和。

岸田表示，新内阁体现了他适应近期经济、安全和技术快速变化，并将这些变化转化为国家优势的决心。

岸田在内阁就职典礼后的新闻发布会上表示：“我们面前将迎来巨大的变革浪潮。我们不能袖手旁观，坐视这些变化发生。”

岸田表示，他的政策目标有三大支柱：结束通货紧缩、加强外交和安全，以及采取措施应对日本人口迅速老龄化和减少的问题。

这是岸田自2021年10月就任首相以来的第二次内阁改组。他当时承诺将实现经济增长的公平分配，采取措施应对日本人口下降问题，并加强国防。然而，俄罗斯入侵乌克兰、能源价格上涨以及日本国防开支飙升等问题，都给他的任期带来了挑战，导致他的支持率持续低迷。

岸田的自民党总裁任期将于2024年9月届满，预计他将寻求连任。他所在的派系是党内第四大派系，因此他必须与其他派系保持良好关系才能保住职位。

他分配内阁职位以反映这种权力平衡，将近一半的职位分配给了与遇刺身亡的前首相安倍晋三和前领导人麻生太郎有关的两个最大派系。

经济产业大臣西村康稔、财务大臣铃木俊一、数字改革大臣河野太郎、经济安全大臣高市早苗等六位大臣留任。

自民党支持传统的家庭价值观和性别角色，其领导层中女性政治家人数较少，这经常受到妇女权利组织的批评，认为这是没有女性的民主。

美国驻日本大使拉姆·伊曼纽尔对新内阁表示欢迎。伊曼纽尔在电话采访中说：“随着日美两国继续提升安全关系，这些任命将为两年前启动的这项事业注入新鲜血液、活力和目标感。”

反对党领袖对新内阁表示失望。“我们承认女性部长人数增加到五位，但除此之外，（新内阁）并没有传达出它真正想要实现的目标，”日本立宪民主党执行委员冈田克也表示。

岸田周三告诉记者，他计划在10月底前制定一项新的经济方案，以应对不断上涨的汽油和食品价格。

在这次人事调整中失去职位的两人都曾受到近期丑闻的影响。

日本农林水产大臣野村哲郎因称福岛核电站排放的处理后放射性废水为“受污染的”（中国使用“受污染的”一词来形容水质不安全）而受到岸田的训斥并道歉。此外，有杂志报道称，内阁官房副长官木原诚二干预了警方对其妻子前夫离奇死亡事件的调查。

岸田上一次改组内阁是在一年前，当时安倍遇刺身亡，揭露了执政党高层成员与韩国保守宗教团体统一教会之间的联系。