Kan to reappoint most ministers of Hatoyama Cabinet+

TOKYO, June 5 Kyodo -
Prime Minister-elect Naoto Kan has decided to retain most of the ministers who
served in the previous government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, including
Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa, in his
new Cabinet that he plans to inaugurate Tuesday, sources close to Kan said
Saturday.
Kan told reporters Saturday night that he has decided to appoint Yukio Edano as
secretary general of his ruling Democratic Party of Japan, removing the
powerful Ichiro Ozawa from the party's No. 2 post, and Yoshito Sengoku as chief
Cabinet secretary.
The appointment of Edano is being interpreted as an effort by Kan to curtail
the influence of Ozawa in party management and policy implementation as Edano
has criticized Ozawa over ''money and politics'' problems that are considered
to have undermined public confidence in the governing party. Kan, however,
denied such speculation.
Kan also said he has decided to name Shinji Tarutoko as DPJ Diet affairs chief.
Tarutoko, a relatively unknown DPJ lawmaker, was Kan's sole challenger in
Friday's DPJ leadership election.
Kan also decided to promote Yoshihiko Noda to finance minister and appoint
upper house lawmaker Renho as minister in charge of consumer affairs in the new
Cabinet, the sources said.
DPJ lower house member Satoshi Arai will be appointed as state minister in
charge of designing national strategy, succeeding Sengoku.
Noda was senior vice finance minister under Kan when the latter served as
finance minister in the previous Hatoyama Cabinet, which resigned Friday.
Renho, a TV presenter-turned-politician who only goes by her first name, will
succeed Mizuho Fukushima, head of the Social Democratic Party, who was sacked
by Hatoyama on May 28 for refusing to sign a Cabinet document on the thorny
issue of relocating a U.S. Marine base in Okinawa Prefecture. The SDP left the
governing coalition as a consequence, leading to Hatoyama's resignation.
Renho is also expected to take charge of the issue of Japan's declining birthrate.
As for the post of deputy chief Cabinet secretary, Kan will appoint Motohisa
Furukawa, senior vice minister for economic and fiscal policy, while retaining
Koji Matsui, according to the sources.
Among other ministerial posts, farm minister Hirotaka Akamatsu will be
replaced, the sources said. Akamatsu said Friday he would not seek
reappointment as he could not prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease in
Miyazaki Prefecture.
Other ministers to be reappointed are Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Akira
Nagatsuma, Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Kazuhiro Haraguchi,
Justice Minister Keiko Chiba, education minister Tatsuo Kawabata, trade
minister Masayuki Naoshima, transport minister Seiji Maehara, Environment
Minister Sakihito Ozawa, National Public Safety Commission chief Hiroshi Nakai
and Financial Services Minister Shizuka Kamei.
Two DPJ lower house members -- Banri Kaieda and Koichiro Gemba -- will secure
major positions in the government or in the DPJ, according to the sources.
The new prime minister has also decided to extend the Diet session beyond June
16, although it has not yet been decided how long, the sources said.
Due to the planned extension, the House of Councillors election is likely to be
held on July 25, instead of July 11 as expected earlier.
Kan will hold a joint plenary meeting of DPJ Diet members Monday to decide on
the composition of the new party leadership.
==Kyodo
2010-06-05 23:58:46


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