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Cabinet for Realizing Peace of Mind
By Michelle | August 2, 2008
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After months of foot-tapping and nail-biting (wait, who are we kidding), Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda has finally reshuffled his cabinet — that’s the terms for giving under-performing/unpopular ministers the boot. Media has dubbed the move a “last ditch” effort on Fukuda’s part to improve his public approval ratings, but that is of course assuming that the 72-year old prime minister actually cares what the public thinks of him. |
Although Fukuda served four years as Chief Cabinet Secretary (内閣官房長官) under former prime minister Junichro Koizumi (2000-04), his political style is quite different from Koizumi — considered a maverick even within his own party, Koizumi relied more on public support than intra-party backing to hold onto power during his tenure. With the nickname “lionheart,” coined out of his “unusual” hairstyle, Koizumi enjoyed public approval ratings of over 80 percent at the hight of his popularity.
So who exactly are the heavyweights who occupy the reshuffled Fukuda cabinet (or as he calls it, the “cabinet for realizing peace of mind”)? Here’s a run-down on some of the new cabinet members:
- Former LDP Policy Research Council Chairman Sadakazu Tanigaki (谷垣禎一): Finance minister in the third realigned Koizumi Cabinet, Tanigaki ran against Fukuda and Aso in 2006 for the post of LDP president (i.e. prime minister).
- Former LDP General Council Chairman Toshihiro Nikai (二階俊博): METI minister in the third realigned Koizumi Cabinet, in 2005 Nikai head of the Diet committee in charge of the privatization of Japan Post. He also served as Minister of Transportation under prime ministers Keizo Obuchi and Yoshiro Mori.
- Former Justice Minister Okiharu Yasuoka (保岡 興治): Although he was first elected to the Diet as an independent, Yasuoka later joined the LDP
Topics: In the News, Japan, Politics |