August 1, 2008TOKYO (AP) -- Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda picked a new Cabinet Friday that was a mix of old-guard legislators and several reappointments to restore confidence in his leadership amid flagging public popularity.
In an unusual move, he appointed two women, former telecommunications minister Seiko Noda, relatively popular as a consumers' advocate, and Kyoko Nakayama, a key figure in trying to win back Japanese kidnapped by North Korea decades ago, a longtime emotional issue for this nation.
The Cabinet reshuffle has been widely viewed as an attempt by the 72-year-old Fukuda to win back public support following scandals over missing pension records and alleged bribery in his bureaucracy.
The picks appear to show how he has tried to balance the need to please senior lawmakers to maintain his party leadership with the need to satisfy the public with fresh faces to send a message of change.
The opposition has been pressing Fukuda to call snap-elections amid voter outrage about emerging uncertainty about Japan's pension and health care systems. Japan has one of the largest populations of elderly people in the world, and the gap between the rich and poor has grown as companies respond to global competition.
Japan, the world's second-largest economy, has eked out moderate growth in recent years but has been battered by rising oil prices and other economic uncertainty, including a U.S. slowdown that is likely to crimp exports.
Political analyst Eiken Itagaki said Fukuda was trying to play it safe.
"The Cabinet looks like more of the same. But he wanted to strengthen his position in his party to stay on," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Indeed, many of the faces chosen were the same, including Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura, Health Minister Yoichi Masuzoe and Nobutaka Machimura, the chief government spokesman, who announced the Cabinet lineup.
Machimura denied the Cabinet shake-up was a publicity stunt aimed at restoring the administration's popularity.
"We are not here for the sake of raising our support rating," he told reporters. "We are facing a number of pressing issues, such as price hikes, soaring oil prices and risks of an economic slowdown."
Also added to the Cabinet were ruling party heavyweights like Bunmei Ibuki, 70, appointed finance minister, Kaoru Yosano, 69, tipped as economic and fiscal policy minister, and Seiichi Ota, 62, who became agriculture minister.
Earlier in the day, Fukuda also picked old-guard legislators for the top positions in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, including former Foreign Minister Taro Aso as secretary-general.
Aso, 67, acknowledged the ruling party faced a serious crisis in winning over a disenchanted public. Many Japanese are growing pessimistic and worried about the economy because of surging oil prices and other problems, he said.
"Just because we have a new structure, that doesn't mean all is well," Aso said. He promised to push forward an economic stimulus and other programs.
Fukuda's overall public approval rating has fallen to about 20 percent in recent months, as top defense officials have been arrested on suspicion of bribery and tax evasion and bureaucrats have been accused of accepting alcohol and snacks in taxis whose fares were paid by taxpayer money.
Nakayama has been an advocate of Japanese who believe their family members have been kidnapped by North Korean spies, including the parents of Megumi Yokota, who some evidence show was taken to North Korea in 1977.
The families have been pressuring the government for years to take a tough stand against Pyongyang and win the kidnapping victims back. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il admitted to the kidnappings and returned five Japanese in 2002. Japan is demanding that others be also returned.
Nakayama will now oversee the abduction issue as well as gender equality and the problem of Japan's declining birth rate.
Noda, appointed Friday minister in charge of consumer affairs, has carved out a rather unusual career in the party for getting temporarily kicked out of the party by opposing economic reforms including the privatization of the national postal system. She has a reputation for advocating women's issues and wrote a book about fertility problems.
The opposition, which controls the upper house of the Diet, has been challenging the ruling party over the recent scandals and is pressing for early elections. The ruling party, which has led Japan almost continuously for more than half a century, controls the more powerful lower house in a coalition.
Fukuda, who took office in September, has kept a low profile and has not achieved the popularity of the flamboyant Junichiro Koizumi, the prime minister before Abe.
(Mainichi Japan) August 1, 2008
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