Japan's new prime minister keeps foreign and defence chiefs in place

Kishida Appoints 13 First-Time Ministers, Retains Key Cabinet Posts

AFP/ JIJI PRESS - The candidate for the presidential election of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Fumio Kishida (C), former Foreign Minister, reacts after being elected as the new president in the presidential elections of the PLD in Tokyo on September 29, 2021

Updated: 04/10/21

The new Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, announced his Cabinet, hours after taking office, with 13 ministers assuming portfolios for the first time, four returning and maintaining the key posts of Foreign Affairs and Defense.

Kishida has retained and placed key members of his party's main faction in a message of stability in this transitional government after emerging victorious in last week's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) primaries and with a general election on the agenda before the end of November.

The president, inaugurated Monday as Japan's 100th prime minister, keeps Toshimitsu Motegi at the helm of the Foreign Ministry and Nobuo Kishi, younger brother of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, at the Defense Ministry.

Kishida also chose to keep Koichi Hagiuda in his Cabinet, moving him from education, culture, sports and science to economy, trade and industry.

El exministro de Asuntos Exteriores de Japón, Fumio Kishida, habla tras ser anunciado como ganador de las elecciones al liderazgo del Partido Liberal Demócrata en Tokio, el miércoles 29 de septiembre de 2021

Education will be headed by Shinsuke Suematsu, a first-timer at the helm of a ministry but with experience in senior positions at the Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of Reconstruction.

As finance minister will be Shunichi Suzuki, who in 2019 held the post of minister in charge of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games for several months, and who replaces his brother-in-law and until now also deputy prime minister, Taro Aso, who has held both posts for 8 years and nine months since 2012.

Among the returning former ministers is Seiko Noda, a former interior and communications minister who will now be the minister in charge of birth issues. Noda was among the four candidates running in last week's LDP primaries.

Un peatón mira una televisión pública que muestra a Fumio Kishida, exministro de Asuntos Exteriores, durante la transmisión en directo de las elecciones presidenciales del Partido Liberal Democrático (PLD), el miércoles 29 de septiembre de 2021, en Tokio

The new births minister is one of three women in the new Japanese government. The other two are Noriko Horiuchi, minister in charge of vaccination and the Olympic Games, and Karen Makishima, minister in charge of digitalization, who at 44 is the youngest member of the first Kishida administration.

The oldest are Genjiro Kaneko, minister of agriculture and fisheries, and Satoshi Ninoyu, chairman of the National Security Commission, both 77.

The average age of the Cabinet is 61.7, excluding Kishida, who is 64, slightly older than the 59.9 years of his predecessor, Yoshihide Suga.

Kishida has created a new post, that of minister in charge of economic security, to be held by Takayuki Kobayashi.