Japan's new Cabinet formed ahead of looming election

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TOKYO, June 8 Kyodo -
Japan's new leader Naoto Kan formed his Cabinet on Tuesday in the hope of
shoring up support for his Democratic Party of Japan in the run-up to an upper
house election that will be the touchstone for judging whether the country will
have a long period of political stability.
Kan said he will ''fundamentally rebuild'' Japan, which has been weighed down
by a sense of despair over the last 20 years since the bursting of the bubble
economy, with many ordinary people, young and old, feeling politics has no
power to transform their lives.
''I believe that the role of politics is to create a society that minimizes
factors that make people unhappy'' and generate a sense of security for the
future, Kan said at his inaugural news conference as prime minister.
The abrupt resignation last week of his predecessor Yukio Hatoyama has helped
reverse the declining popularity of the DPJ, which ended more than half a
century of almost continuous rule by the Liberal Democratic Party after its
landslide victory in last summer's lower house election.
But it is not yet known whether Kan's government will appeal to many voters who
once had high expectations for the DPJ but were later disenchanted with
Hatoyama's indecisiveness and broken promises, as not many on his team are new
faces.
With the upper house election expected next month, Kan has decided to retain 11
ministers out of 17 who served in Hatoyama's Cabinet.
Those include Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa
and transport minister Seiji Maehara, all of them in charge of undertaking the
delicate task of relocating a U.S. Marine base in Okinawa Prefecture, the issue
which Hatoyama fumbled, leading to his resignation after about eight months in
office.
The 63-year-old new leader himself was deputy prime minister and finance
minister in the previous Cabinet. Some of the others also continued to hold key
posts, although their titles changed, such as Yoshito Sengoku, who was state
minister in charge of formulating national strategy, is now chief Cabinet
secretary, the government's top spokesman.
Kan, who was elected prime minister in a parliamentary vote last Friday, held a
meeting in the afternoon with Shizuka Kamei, head of the People's New Party,
and confirmed that the two parties will remain coalition partners.
Recent media polls following Hatoyama's sudden resignation have shown that more
than 50 percent of voters expressed high hopes for Kan, the fifth prime
minister since Junichiro Koizumi's rare five years in office ended in September
2006.
The quick recovery in popularity is in part due to Kan's background that he is
the country's first prime minister in 14 years who was not born into a
blue-blooded political family.
Although Kan is a different type of leader, the situation remains unchanged for
the two-party coalition government in that it faces a host of challenges, from
rescuing the country's economy from a two-decade slump to restoring voter
confidence in politics following money scandals involving Hatoyama and former
DPJ Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa.
Kan told the nationally televised news conference that ''the biggest
challenge'' facing him is to trim the country's ballooning debt.
Kan called on opposition parties to also work together with him to restore
Japan's fiscal health, noting that the country's future prosperity hinges on
whether it can achieve ''a strong economy, strong finances and strong social
welfare in one.''
He also signaled his intention to explore the possibility of raising some tax
rates in the near future.
On the diplomatic front, Kan said the long-standing alliance with the United
States will be ''the cornerstone'' and his new government will honor the
agreement reached late last month with Washington over the relocation of the
Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station.
But Kan, who started his political career as a civic activist, said however
difficult it may be, he will seek to reduce the burden shouldered by Okinawa in
hosting the air base and the bulk of U.S. forces in Japan under a bilateral
security accord.
Whatever the results of the forthcoming election, the DPJ will not be ousted
from power. But the party needs to win a majority to enable it to pass bills on
its own in parliament without a hitch.
Sengoku said Kan selected Cabinet members based on his ambition to make
Japanese politics more professional and clean.
''This Cabinet is youthful, fresh and formed by people who love to work,''
Sengoku said at a news conference after releasing the lineup.
Of Kan's 17 ministers, eight are either in their 40s or 50s.
In addition, more members of Kan's Cabinet are regarded as critical of Ozawa's
way of conducting politics behind closed doors.
Among the new portfolios, Kan promoted Senior Vice Finance Minister Yoshihiko
Noda to finance minister and Masahiko Yamada, a senior vice minister of
agriculture, forestry and fisheries, to farm minister, replacing Hirotaka
Akamatsu.
House of Councillors lawmaker Renho, who goes by her first name, became
minister in charge of administrative reform, while Koichiro Gemba, who heads
the DPJ's policy research council, was appointed state minister for civil
service reform. Renho, 42, and Gemba, 46, are the Cabinet's two youngest
ministers.
Gemba will also be responsible for three other areas -- Japan's declining
birthrate, gender equality and creating a new model for public management.
Satoshi Arai was given the post of minister in charge of national strategy,
economic and fiscal policy and consumer affairs and food safety.
Kan's Cabinet was formally inaugurated with an attestation ceremony at the
Imperial Palace in the evening.
According to government sources, he is planning to give his policy speech in
the Diet on Friday.
==Kyodo
2010-06-08 23:54:50