Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi launched her reshuffled cabinet on September 17 after an attestation ceremony at the Imperial Palace, retaining her main ministers while bringing in 10 new faces, Yomiuri Shimbun reported on September 17.

The reshuffle is the first since Takaichi took office in October last year, and it leaves the core of her economic team intact as her government prepares to push a consumption tax cut through an extraordinary session of the Diet. Takaichi, who also leads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, told a news conference that the implementation of responsible expansionary fiscal policy could not be delayed, indicating she would continue to run the government with the economy as her top priority.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara, 57, and Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama, 67, both kept their posts. Katayama was given an additional brief covering consumption tax and support payment legislation, part of an effort to secure passage of bills tied to the planned tax cut. Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, 70, Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, 45, and Growth Strategy Minister Minoru Kiuchi, 61, also stayed on.

Takaichi said ministers holding posts where continuity mattered had been asked to remain. New appointments, she explained, were made on the basis of a questionnaire sent to LDP members of the House of Representatives, with the emphasis placed on the ability to deliver results. She described the new line-up as a cabinet of decision, challenge and execution.

Seven ministers entered the cabinet for the first time. Among them is Hiroshi Nakatsuji, 70, the former secretary-general of coalition partner Nippon Ishin no Kai, who was named minister for regulatory reform. It is the first time a member of Ishin has joined the cabinet since Takaichi formed her government, delivering the cooperation within cabinet that the junior partner had sought.

The prime minister said the appointment would stand as a symbol of the LDP and Ishin coalition government moving into a new stage.