TOKYO: Japan's struggling Prime Minister Fumio Kishida named new foreign and defense chiefs on Wednesday in a major reshuffle that raised the number of women in his cabinet to five.
Kishida's popularity and his standing within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) have dived since he took office in October 2021, and many voters are not happy with his government's handling of the world's third-largest economy.
The 66-year-old will stand for reelection next year as president of the LDP, which has dominated politics for decades, and experts said the reshuffle was an attempt to shore up his approval ratings.
Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi was replaced by Yoko Kamikawa, one of five women in the new cabinet, government spokesman and Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters.
Kamikawa, 70, is Japan's first female foreign minister in 19 years.
She was Justice minister five years ago, when Japan executed the leader and members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult for their role in the deadly 1995 sarin attack on Tokyo's subway.
Minoru Kihara, 54, succeeded Yasukazu Hamada as defense chief, just as Japan faces a rising threat from North Korea and deteriorating relations with China.
Public support for the Kishida government stood at just 36 percent against 43 percent for disapproval, a poll released by national broadcaster Japan Broadcasting Corp., or NHK, showed on Monday.
A majority of voters are not satisfied with the government's policy to address inflation, according to a Yomiuri poll published last month.
Kishida said on Sunday he planned to “implement a bold economic package” to address the impact of rising prices on voters.
And he stuck with his economic team in the reshuffle.
Shunichi Suzuki stays on as finance minister and Yasutoshi Nishimura remains the head of the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry.
Kishida's flamboyant former rival Taro Kono remains in charge of digital affairs.
Farm Ministry chief Tetsuro Nomura, who recently made a gaffe about the release of treated wastewater from the disaster-hit Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, was replaced.
“The cabinet shuffle is, as usual, an attempt to shore up faltering approval ratings,” said Brad Glosserman of the Pacific Forum research institute.
It aims to make Kishida's internal reelection “more likely by boosting public support [and] to ensure that factions within the LDP continue to support him,” he told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Public support has been hit in recent months due to issues including the troubled new “My Number Card” identification system.
Scandals have also taken their toll, including “inappropriate behavior” by Kishida's eldest son Shotaro, who was removed from the position of his secretary earlier this year.
Magazine photos showed invitees to a party thrown by Shotaro pretending to hold a news conference and one lying down on red-carpeted stairs.
In the reshuffled cabinet, five of the 19 ministers are women, up from two previously. This is the joint highest number in Japan's history.
In June, Kishida's government set new rules that top listed firms should by 2025 have at least one female director, and that by 2030 women should form 30 percent of boards.
His cabinet move “is an attempt to counter the rank hypocrisy by which successive governments call for greater participation of women in business yet provide virtually no representation in the cabinet,” Glosserman said. “Let's see how long they last.”