{"id":65154,"date":"2023-09-13T14:48:09","date_gmt":"2023-09-13T14:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2023\/09\/13\/japan-gets-new-defense-minister\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:57:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:57:51","slug":"japan-gets-new-defense-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/asia-pacific\/2023\/09\/13\/japan-gets-new-defense-minister\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan gets new defense minister"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">TOKYO \u2014 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\u2019s first female foreign minister since 2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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 \u2014 in 2001 and 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Minoru Kihara, who has been serving on the governing Liberal Democratic Party\u2019s national security committee, was selected as defense minister, replacing Yasukazu Hamada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kishida said the new Cabinet reflects his determination to adapt to recent rapid economic, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/global\/asia-pacific\/2023\/08\/31\/japan-unveils-defense-budget-seeking-hypersonics-frigates-f-35s\/\" target=\"_blank\">security and technological changes<\/a> \u2014 and turn those into national strengths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere is a huge flow of change in front of us,\u201d Kishida said at a news conference after the Cabinet\u2019s swearing-in ceremony. \u201cWe cannot stand still just watching all these changes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kishida said three pillars of his policy goals are an end to deflation, stronger diplomacy and security, and measures to address Japan\u2019s rapidly aging and declining population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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\u2019s declining population and a stronger national defense. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/ukraine\/\" target=\"_blank\">Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine<\/a>, rising energy prices and Japan\u2019s soaring defense costs have created challenges in his tenure, keeping his support ratings at low levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kishida\u2019s three-year term as the conservative LDP\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The LDP supports traditional family values and gender roles, and the low number of female politicians in leadership positions is often criticized by women\u2019s rights groups as democracy without women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel welcomed the new Cabinet. \u201cThese appointments will bring a level of freshness, a level of energy and purposefulness in that endeavor that started two years ago\u201d as Japan and the United States continue to elevate their security ties, Emanuel said in a telephone interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Opposition leaders expressed disappointment in the new Cabinet. \u201cWe recognize the increase of female ministers to five, but otherwise, [the new Cabinet[ conveys no sense of what it actually wants to achieve,\u201d said Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan executive Katsuya Okada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two people who lost posts in the shakeup had been touched by recent scandals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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 \u201ccontaminated,\u201d 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\u2019s suspicious death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kishida last shuffled his Cabinet a year ago after Abe\u2019s assassination revealed ties between senior governing party members and the Unification Church, a South Korea-based conservative religious group.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Minoru Kihara, who has been serving on the governing Liberal Democratic Party\u2019s national security committee, was selected as defense minister.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":117822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":45,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[45,160,11,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1278],"class_list":["post-65154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific","category-daily-news-roundup","category-global","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"S3QMJAQRTZAWRCBARNXL56SCVI","arc_canonical_url":"\/global\/asia-pacific\/2023\/09\/13\/japan-gets-new-defense-minister\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Japan gets new defense minister - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Minoru Kihara, who has been serving on the governing Liberal Democratic Party\u2019s national security committee, was selected as defense minister.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Japan gets new defense minister\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Minoru Kihara, who has been serving on the governing Liberal Democratic Party\u2019s national security committee, was selected as defense minister.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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