Prime Minister Fukuda shook things up, changing 13 of the 17 Ministers in his Cabinet and dubbing the new bunch the “Cabinet for realizing peace of mind.”

‘’It speaks for itself that we did not carry out this reshuffle with a view to raising the public support ratings in preparation for the dissolution'’ of the lower house for a general election,” said continuing Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura. ‘We are not carrying out politics or doing work as Cabinet members for the sake of ratings.'’
The fact remains that a general election is no more than 13 1/2 months away, no matter how high-minded the old LDP trusties dealing with the all-important economy are.

The Cabinet will officially get down to business once they go through an attestation ceremony at the Imperial Palace on Saturday morning.

Without further ado, here’s the line-up:

*Nobutaka Machimura (町村　信孝)- Chief Cabinet Secretary

He believes in UFOs. He thinks the US is “a very conservative country,” which means that McCain will win because “Obama is black and Hillary is a woman. I guess it will be difficult for them to win in the end.” However, he tempered the furore with the handy “my best friend at Wesleyan was black” and “Condi Rice was the person I trusted most when I was Foreign Minister.”
Colorful asides aside, he’s continuing as Chief Cabinet Secretary while giving up his secondary portfolio as State Minister for the North Korean Abduction Issue.
He both preceded and succeeded Taro Aso as Foreign Minister, holding the post for the second time only briefly in Abe’s second Cabinet. He’s also been Education Minister twice, holding the post when it officially changed from Minister of Education to Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology in 2001.
He worked at MITI before his election to the Diet.
His job is not going to get any easier. Let’s leave it at that.

*Masahiko Komura (高村　正彦)- Minister for Foreign Affairs

Komura has been Foreign Minister throughout the Fukuda administration and held the post once before, in 1998-’99. He has also served as State Minister, Director General of the Economic Planning Agency, Justice Minister (succeeding Yasuoka), and, under Abe, briefly as Defense Minister.
Today, he restated his intention to continue to pressure North Korea to denuclearize and for a resolution to the abduction issue, on which he’ll work closely with Kyoko Nakayama, State Minister for the Abduction Issue. He gets to deal with South Korea, as-ever kicking up a territorial fuss over the Liancourt Rocks (Dok-do! Takeshima!), but is coming off the success of a landmark East China Sea gas field development deal with China.

*Yoichi Masuzoe (舛添　要一)- Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare

A leading proponent of a Constitutional amendment and even a new Constitution, the former University of Tokyo professor, a relative newbie to the House of Councillors, has been plagued by the ongoing troubles at the Social Insurance Agency.

*Hiroya Masuda (増田　寛也)- Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications

Until last year, Masuda was the popular three-term reformist Governor of Iwate. He plans to continue working on decentralization.

Bunmei Ibuki (伊吹　文明)- Minister of Finance

Ibuki picks up his new portfolio after serving as Secretary General of the LDP since the beginning of the Fukuda administration. He worked at the MOF from 1960 to ‘83. For some reason, the Western press seem to have decided this means he’s going to get everything sorted.
Today, Ibuki said factors from outside Japan were primarily responsible for the country’s economic problems. Along with Yosano, he said he supported the PM’s plan to raise the consumption tax in two to three years.
He was Minister of Education under PM Abe and caught some flack from us, among others, for starting the job saying he knew nothing about his portfolio, then proving it in a rather callous way.

Tetsuo Saito (斉藤　鉄夫)- Minister of the Environment

A PhD in Engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, New Komeito member Saito worked as a researcher on space development before entering the Diet in 1993. He is particularly interested in promoting education and cultural pursuits and is known for speaking frankly to the LDP despite being rather mild-mannered.

Toshihiro Nikai (二階　俊博)- Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry

While Nikai left the LDP with DPJ President Ichiro Ozawa in 1993, he returned a decade later and became a seeker of “assassins” during the postal privatization-fueled September 2005 snap election.
He is reported to have strong ties with the Chinese leadership.

Okiharu Yasuoka (保岡　興治)- Minister of Justice

Like his predecessor, Kunio Hatoyama, who signed the death warrants of a record 13 convicts during his ten months in office, Yasuoka is a supporter of capital punishment, citing a poll that showed 80% of the public wanted to maintain the system.
He served as Justice Minister previously, in 2000, and has been in the House of Representatives since 1972.

Tsuneo Suzuki (鈴木 恒夫)- Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology

Suzuki consulted PM Abe on revisions to the Fundamental Law of Education. He was Yohei Kono’s secretary in 1977, before which he was a political reporter for the Mainichi. This is his first Cabinet post.

Seiichi Ota (太田 誠一)- Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries

Ota, whose cousin is Kiyoko Fukuda (yes, that Kiyoko Fukuda), is perhaps best known for responding to the 2003 break-up of the Waseda Super Free Circle (a gang-rape club centered at Waseda University, but composed of likely young men from many of Tokyo’s finest institutions of higher learning) with the memorable line: “At least gang rapists are still vigorous. Isn’t that at least a little closer to normal?”
He lost his seat for that one.
He has also proposed that Diet member wearing lapel pins be booted out as such factional marks show “the backwardness of Japanese politics.”
People who speak first and think never are a new addition to the Cabinet and have never caused big problems before. Oh wait. . .

Sadakazu Tanigaki (谷垣 禎一)- Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism

Until today, Tanigaki was the LDP’s policy chief. He served as Finance Minister under PM Koizumi and heads the small Kochikai faction. He ran for the top spot in 2006, but finished 3rd behind Abe and Aso.
On the gossip side, he’s known for taking 100km bike rides on the weekends, climbing mountains, and is said to be an oenophile. Ain’t he dreamy!

Yoshimasa Hayashi (林 芳正)- Minister of Defense

A member of the House of Councillors known for focusing on administrative reforms, Hayashi is jumping into the deep end in his first Ministerial appointment, with the renewal of the anti-terrorism law authorizing the MSDF refuelling mission in the Indian Ocean and the debate over permanent SDF dispatch law on his plate. To top it all off, the Defense Ministry is scandal-tarred and seen as being somewhat. . . Let’s say, “ethically compromised.”
In his first statement to the press, he vowed to continue the refuelling mission and to consult with local leaders in Okinawa over the contentious relocation of Futenma Air Station.
Referencing the struggles the Fukuda administration has faced thus far, he said, ‘’We’ll make efforts so that Japan can continuously play a role as a peace-fostering nation amid difficult circumstances in the Diet.'’

Kaoru Yosano (与謝野　馨)- State Minister in charge of Economic and Fiscal Policy

Yosano was briefly PM Abe’s Chief Cabinet Secretary, appointed in the final Cabinet shake-up during the administration’s fall. He held his new post once before, in 2005-’06, under Koizumi. Prior to that, he was at the head of the vaunted MITI, before which he’d been Education Minister.
He said today that fuel and food price inflation were his biggest concerns. Along with Ibuki, he said he supported the PM’s plan to raise the consumption tax in two to three years.
Rather than the descendant of politicians, he’s the grandson of two famous poets.

Motoo Hayashi (林 幹雄)- Chairman, National Public Safety Commission and State Minister in charge of Okinawa and the Northern Territories

While this is his first Ministerial post, Hayashi was once Vice Transport Minister and served as LDP Deputy Secretary General, under then-Secretary General Tsutomu Takebe, during the debate over postal privatization and was instrumental in getting LDP members to fall in line behind Koizumi’s plan.

Toshimitsu Motegi (茂木 敏充)- State Minister in charge of Financial Services and Administrative Reform

A member of the tiny Japan New Party, Motegi is in his second Cabinet post. Prior to his 1993 election to the House of Representatives, he was a trader for Marubeni, a political reporter for the Yomiuri, and a consultant with McKinsey & Co.
Today, he said that while Japanese markets have been relatively stable, there was still cause for concern as the international situation was unstable.

Kyoko Nakayama (中山 恭子)- State Minister in charge of the Declining Birthrate Issue and the North Korean Abduction Issue

A former MOF bureaucrat and Ambassador to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, Nakayama acted as an intermediary between the government and the families of people abducted by the DPRK, gaining their trust and riding her notoriety to a seat in the House of Councillors last July.

Seiko Noda (野田 聖子)- State Minister in charge of Consumer Affairs

The youngest post-War Cabinet Minister when she was Postal Minister under PM Obuchi, the one-time postal rebel lost her Gifu seat in the September 2005 snap election, but got back into the Diet and the LDP.
She’s as well-known for her books about divorce and fertility treatments as for her political accomplishments.

Taro Aso (麻生 太郎)- Secretary General of the LDP (not a Cabinet position)

(Asterisks denote people continuing in their respective portfolios.)