Japan PM Takaichi largely retains key ruling party execs in 1st reshuffle

TOKYO – Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi retained many of her Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) executives on Sept 16, in her first reshuffle since taking the helm of the ruling party in October 2025.Takaichi kept the influential former prime minister Taro Aso as vice-president and his brother-in-law Shunichi Suzuki as secretary general, as she seeks to maintain continuity ahead of what is likely to be a packed legislative agenda into the end of the year.Policy chief Takayuki Kobayashi was also retained, while Hiroshi Kajiyama, a former industry minister seen as a safe pair of hands, replaced Haruko Arimura as head of the LDP’s decision-making General Council.Kajiyama’s former role as Diet affairs chief was filled by House of Representatives member Hideki Murai, previously a deputy chief cabinet secretary under former prime minister Fumio Kishida.The appointment of a politician without Cabinet experience as the LDP’s chief negotiator in parliament comes after he played a significant role in talks with opposition parties on key bills.Among other appointments, party election strategy chief Yasutoshi Nishimura and Executive Acting Secretary General Koichi Hagiuda, both of whom were implicated in a high-profile political slush funds scandal that emerged in late 2023 and dealt a heavy blow to the party, were kept on in their roles.The reshuffle comes ahead of changes to Takaichi’s Cabinet on Sept 17, and as the ruling coalition of the LDP and the Japan Innovation Party prepares for an extraordinary Diet session, likely to start in early October.The session is likely to include deliberations toward passing a cut of the consumption tax on food products from 8 per cent to 1 per cent for two years from April 2027, and on a controversial political reform Bill reducing Diet seats that led to a boycott by the opposition in the previous session.Takaichi won the LDP’s presidential contest on Oct 4, 2025, and became the country’s first female prime minister later the same month.In the Cabinet revamp, she is tipped to retain a number of her top team, including Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi. KYODO NEWS