Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will give Shinjiro Koizumi, a rising political star touted as a future Japanese leader, his first ministerial post in a Cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday, sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
Koizumi, a son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, will be named as environment minister, the source said. The 38-year-old has been increasingly in the news since making a surprise announcement last month at the prime minister's office of his marriage to TV personality Christel Takigawa.
The high-profile addition to the Cabinet lineup is apparently aimed at lifting approval rates following the first major overhaul in about a year that would otherwise see familiar faces and Abe's allies with similar political views filling key posts.
With most of the current members set to be reshuffled, the makeup of Abe's new Cabinet includes Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasutoshi Nishimura as economic revitalization minister, according to the sources. Nishimura will be put in charge of social security reform, one of Abe's major policy agendas.
Isshu Sugawara, a ruling party lawmaker who once served as a senior vice finance minister, is tipped to become the next trade minister amid a bilateral dispute with South Korea over Japan's tighter export controls.
Source: ANNnewsCH
