TOKYO - Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is accelerating preparations for a Cabinet reshuffle that could take place as early as next week, considering ministerial posts for senior Liberal Democratic Party officials while weighing the treatment of Internal Affairs Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and a new Cabinet member from the Japan Innovation Party.
Takaichi began considering specific Cabinet appointments over the weekend and is examining the possibility of moving senior party executives into ministerial posts.
According to a senior LDP official, Takaichi has finished reviewing all responses to a recent survey asking lawmakers which positions they would prefer and held discussions with Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara on September 6 despite the day being a holiday.
LDP General Council Chair Haruko Arimura and Diet Affairs Committee Chair Hiroshi Kajiyama are under consideration either to remain in their current party posts or to enter the Cabinet.
Attention is also focused on which portfolio will be given to a Japan Innovation Party lawmaker expected to join the Cabinet.
The Japan Innovation Party has sought either the internal affairs and communications portfolio or a ministerial position responsible for its proposed secondary capital initiative. Within the government, however, there are calls for the party to receive a portfolio more closely associated with reform, with minister for regulatory reform emerging as one possibility.
Some members of the Japan Innovation Party had called for the party to receive two Cabinet posts, but it is now expected to receive one.
Meanwhile, ministers Shinjiro Koizumi and Toshimitsu Motegi, both rivals of Takaichi in the 2025 LDP presidential election, are set to remain in their posts, leaving Hayashi's future as internal affairs minister as a major focus of the reshuffle.
A senior administration official, looking ahead to the 2027 LDP presidential election, said Hayashi would be "difficult to replace," and Takaichi is considering his treatment cautiously.
Source: FNN
