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Aug 1 04:44 AM US/Eastern
TOKYO, Aug. 1 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Some current members of the Cabinet will remain in their posts in the Cabinet reshuffle Friday, according to political sources.
They include Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura, and Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe, according to the sources.
Hiroya Masuda, a former Iwate governor who does not hold a Diet seat, will also remain in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda as minister of internal affairs and communications.
Among others, Fukuda has decided to appoint Okiharu Yasuoka as justice minister to replace Kunio Hatoyama, who stirred controversy by accelerating the pace of executions.
Bunmei Ibuki will be appointed as finance minister, while Kaoru Yosano will be named as economic and fiscal policy minister.
From the New Komeito party, the junior coalition partner of Fukuda's Liberal Democratic Party, Tetsuo Saito will be named as environment minister, according to the sources.
Aug 1 03:36 AM US/Eastern
TOKYO, Aug. 1 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda appointed former Foreign Minister Taro Aso and other lawmakers to executive posts in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Friday, ahead of reshuffling his 10-month-old Cabinet later in the day.
The move comes after members of Fukuda's Cabinet submitted their resignations en masse at an extraordinary meeting in the early afternoon, paving the way for the Japanese leader to bring in some members of his choice after having inherited most ministers from his predecessor.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told a press conference after the Cabinet meeting that new ministers will be summoned to the prime minister's office in the evening before the announcement of the new lineup.
Fukuda thanked each of the Cabinet members at their last meeting for "giving their all" in tackling a wide range of issues such as climate change and consumer affairs as well as contributing to hosting international conferences such as the Group of Eight summit, Machimura said.
Prior to the reshuffle, the LDP General Council approved the party's new leadership, including Aso as secretary general and Takashi Sasagawa, lower house steering committee chief, as General Council chairman, LDP lawmakers said.
Fukuda retained Makoto Koga as chairman of the LDP Election Strategy Council and named former education minister Kosuke Hori as chairman of the Policy Research Council, they said.
In the first change in the members of his Cabinet since taking office last September, Fukuda will retain Machimura, despite earlier speculation that he may replace the top government spokesman, according to political sources.
Other ministers to be reappointed include Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura, and Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe, according to the sources.
Hiroya Masuda, a former Iwate governor who does not hold a Diet seat, will also remain in the Cabinet as minister of internal affairs and communications.
Bunmei Ibuki, the LDP's secretary general, will be appointed as finance minister, while former Chief Cabinet Secretary Kaoru Yosano is set to be named as economic and fiscal policy minister, the sources said.
Fukuda will give a press conference at 9 p.m. Friday and the attestation ceremony for new ministers at the Imperial Palace to formally launch the revamped Cabinet will take place Saturday morning, Machimura said.
On Friday morning, Fukuda, who doubles as LDP president, asked Akihiro Ota, leader of the LDP's junior coalition partner the New Komeito party, for cooperation in reshuffling the Cabinet and the latter agreed.
Ota expressed his view to the prime minister that the reshuffle must show the government's intention to pay attention to those in weak situations in society, such as the elderly and small businesses, the New Komeito party chief told reporters after their meeting.
Fukuda said in his meeting with Ota that he will reshuffle his Cabinet placing emphasis on measures that pay heed to the livelihood of the general public amid the recent surge in commodity prices and Japan's aging society, government and ruling party officials said.
Calls have been growing for Fukuda to form a Cabinet that reflects his own political stance, given that he inherited 15 of his 17 Cabinet ministers from his predecessor Shinzo Abe.
The reshuffle is apparently aimed at bolstering the Cabinet's sluggish support rating, which has not improved much even after Fukuda chaired the G-8 summit in Hokkaido in July.
According to major media organizations' polls in mid-July following the G-8 summit, the approval rating for Fukuda's Cabinet remained below the "danger" line of 30 percent.
Fukuda's choice of Aso for the LDP's key post apparently reflects his hope to boost the ruling party's popularity ahead of the House of Representatives election that will be held by September next year when the term for lower house members expires.
Aso, known for his popularity among the younger generation as a manga comic book enthusiast, served in the same post under Abe, but only for about a month because Abe abruptly resigned last September following the ruling coalition's defeat in the July 2007 House of Councillors election.
Winning the next general election is crucial for the ruling coalition, which has yielded control of the upper house to the opposition bloc after last year's election.
Aug 1 03:20 AM US/Eastern
TOKYO, Aug. 1 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who doubles as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, appointed former Foreign Minister Taro Aso as LDP secretary general on Friday as he revamped his party leadership prior to a Cabinet reshuffle.
The appointment of Aso to the party's second-in-command reflects Fukuda's hope to take advantage of Aso's image to boost his party's popularity ahead of the next House of Representatives election which will decide whether the LDP will remain in power.
As for other key party posts, Fukuda retained Makoto Koga as chairman of the Election Strategy Council, while naming former education minister Kosuke Hori as chairman of the Policy Research Council, and Takashi Sasagawa, lower house steering committee chief, as the General Council chairman.
Earlier in the day, Fukuda, who has seen his support ratings fall since taking office in September, asked Aso to return to the post by replacing Bunmei Ibuki, an offer which Aso accepted.
Aso, regarded as a frontrunner to succeed Fukuda and known for his popularity among the younger generation as a manga comic book enthusiast, served in the same post under Shinzo Abe, Fukuda's predecessor.
But he was in the post only for around a month because Abe abruptly resigned in September last year.
The replacement of the secretary general also comes amid voices inside the party which have questioned Ibuki's coordination capability.
Winning the next general election is crucial for the ruling coalition of the LDP and the New Komeito party, which have yielded control of the House of Councillors to the opposition parties after last year's election.
No general election needs to be held until the lower house's current four-year term ends in September 2009, but an election can be held earlier because the prime minister has the right to dissolve the lower house to call for an election.
Jul 31 10:04 PM US/Eastern
(AP) - WASHINGTON, July 31 (Kyodo) — A U.S. federal naming agency's reinstated recognition of South Korea's ownership of a pair of rocky islets that Seoul controls but Japan also claims as its own was to conduct a full review of its database, the State Department said Thursday.
"There was a technical move, which has since been reversed, that caused quite a stir and that move was reversed because there was a desire to take a look at this database as a whole," department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.
"It has been pointed out that there are multiple inaccuracies in the database. So essentially, we wanted to reset back to where we were, take a thoughtful and comprehensive look at the database: how the database itself functions as well as the interagency process that supports the database function," he said.
The reinstatement came on Wednesday on President George W. Bush's order, after South Korea lodged a protest against the U.S. Board on Geographic Names' revision of its description of the disputed territory to assume a more neutral position.
South Korea on Thursday welcomed the move, with President Lee Myung Bak's spokesman Lee Dong Kwan saying the "unusually swift" reaction by the U.S. administration shows that Bush "has a full understanding of the Korean people's sentiment" and also "reflects deep trust and friendship" between the two leaders.
Bush will visit South Korea next week as part of a three-nation Asian tour that will also take him to Thailand and China.
Japan's top government spokesman Nobutaka Machimura expressed the view that the move represents no change in U.S. stance on the issue, saying, "We think that we should not react excessively to what one U.S. government agency does."
The board's website previously said the Liancourt Rocks, another name for the islets known as Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan, were under South Korea's control, but it recently named them an area of "undesignated sovereignty."
The name Liancourt Rocks was taken from a French whaling ship that first introduced the territory to Europe in the 19th century. The islets are located in what Japan calls the Sea of Japan and South Korea calls the East Sea.
South Korea has adopted a more aggressive stance on the territorial dispute since Japan's education ministry earlier this month decided to include a claim to sovereignty over the islets for the first time in a teaching guideline for junior high schools, sparking a backlash in South Korea.
South Korea has recalled its ambassador from Tokyo for an indefinite period, while angry Koreans have mounted a series of anti-Japanese protests outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.
"The core of this, as I have been trying to point out to everybody, is that our policy is unchanged: that this is an issue that needs to be worked out between the two countries," McCormack said.
Jul 31 09:43 PM US/Eastern
Friday+ (AP) - TOKYO, Aug. 1 (Kyodo) — Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda informed New Komeito party leader Akihiro Ota on Friday morning he wants to reshuffle his Cabinet later in the day and asked the junior coalition partner of his Liberal Democratic Party for cooperation.
Ota told reporters after the meeting with Fukuda that he said the New Komeito will cooperate, but expressed his view that the reshuffle must show the government's intention to pay attention to those in weak situations in society, such as the elderly and small businesses.
Fukuda said he will consider a Cabinet lineup that takes into consideration the future economy, amid surging prices in goods and the aging society, according to LDP Secretary General Bunmei Ibuki, who also took part in the meeting at the prime minister's office.
The Japanese leader decided Thursday to change the lineup of his Cabinet on Friday afternoon for the first time since he took office last September, according to ruling lawmakers.
Fukuda will also appoint new LDP executives prior to the Cabinet reshuffle. Political sources said he is considering asking former Foreign Minister Taro Aso to return to the post of LDP secretary general.
The prime minister is expected to convene a Cabinet meeting at 1:30 p.m. for members to submit their resignations en masse before appointing the LDP's new leadership, and then start summoning his new intended Cabinet members.
The attestation ceremony for new ministers at the Imperial Palace to formally launch the revamped Cabinet, may take place Saturday, if the reshuffling process goes on until late Friday night.
Fukuda is expected to retain Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura, despite earlier speculations of possibly switching the top government spokesman, as well as Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe, according to the sources.
Among the four LDP executives, Makoto Koga, chairman of the party's Election Strategy Council, and General Council Chairman Toshihiro Nikai are likely to be reappointed, they said.
Calls have been growing for Fukuda to form a Cabinet that reflects his own political stance, given that he inherited 15 of his 17 Cabinet ministers from his predecessor Shinzo Abe.
The anticipated reshuffle is apparently aimed at bolstering the Cabinet's sluggish support rating, which has not improved much even after Fukuda chaired the Group of Eight summit in Hokkaido in July.
According to major media organizations' polls in mid-July following the G-8 summit, the approval rating for Fukuda's Cabinet remained below the "danger" line of 30 percent.
36 minutes ago
TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's beleaguered Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda plans to reshuffle his cabinet on Friday, the secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) said.
Fukuda expressed his intentions in a meeting with Akihiro Ota, the leader of the LDP's junior coalition partner New Komeito.
"Mr Fukuda said that he wants to reshuffle his cabinet today," Bunmei Ibuki, the LDP secretary general, told reporters afterwards.
Photo: Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda speaks to reporters at his official residence in Tokyo. Fukuda is set to reshuffle his cabinet in a bid to revive sagging approval ratings by bringing in new faces.
"To this, Mr Ota replied that he understood," Ibuki said.
Ota said Fukuda, who is battling rock-bottom approval ratings, asked for assistance from New Komeito, Japan's third largest party which has ties with an influential Buddhist movement.
"He expressed his wish to reshuffle his cabinet," Ota said. "The prime minister asked us for our cooperation in the reshuffle."
The announcement of the new cabinet lineup is expected in the late evening, with Fukuda likely to hold a press conference afterwards, said the Yomiuri Shimbun and the Japan Broadcasting Corporation.
Fukuda, a 72-year-old political veteran, will appoint new leadership of the ruling party before choosing his new cabinet, the Asahi Shimbun said.
August 1, 2008
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda met Friday with Akihiro Ota, leader of coalition partner Komeito, and informed him of plans to reshuffle the Cabinet following the appointment of new executives to the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
In an attempt to build party unity ahead of the next House of Representatives election, Fukuda met with former LDP Secretary-General Taro Aso the same day to ask him to return to the post. Aso accepted.
Current LDP Secretary-General Bunmei Ibuki will be appointed Minister of Finance. LDP General Council Chairman Toshihiro Nikai and Makoto Koga, chairman of the LDP's Election Strategy Council, will retain their positions.
"I will carry out the role of secretary-general with the help of Koga," Aso said.
Also to retain their posts are Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe and LDP deputy secretary-general Hiroyuki Hosoda.
"With high crude oil prices and other factors, business conditions will be difficult in the future, and to respond to that, I want a lineup that emphasizes the economy. I want to show my willingness to implement reforms that place importance on consumers and people living in Japan," Fukuda said during his meeting with Ota.
Ota discussed countermeasures for high crude oil prices and a response to the graying society.
"It's important that the reshuffle produces lifestyle-centered reforms and a political attitude that takes care of the weaker members of society," he said.
(Mainichi Japan) August 1, 2008
Aug 1 04:44 AM US/Eastern
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