TOKYO, October 2, 2018 (News Wires) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe kept key ministers in their posts in a cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday, including finance, trade and foreign affairs, while appointing just one woman to the new lineup. Abe, who has made female empowerment a high profile policy, tapped Satsuki Katayama, a conservative lawmaker and former finance official, as minister of regional revitalisation and gender equality, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said in announcing the cabinet. Abe, who returned to office in December 2012 after a troubled 2006-2007 term as premier, was re-elected leader of his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) last month, putting him on track to become Japan's longest-serving prime minister. Abe's reshuffle appeared to focus on stability as he prepares to push ahead with his controversial attempt to revise the post-war, pacifist constitution, political experts said. His allies Suga and Finance Minister Taro Aso were reappointed. Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko, Foreign Minister Taro Kono, and Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, who handled difficult trade talks with Washington, also kept their posts. "He's appointed old friends and reliable allies and kept people in key portfolios to buy stability," said Jeffrey Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University's Japan campus. He said the appointment of just one female minister in a 19-member cabinet "exposes the empty grandstanding on 'Womenomics'". The previous cabinet had two female members. Abe appointed one lawmaker - Justice Minister Takashi Yamashita - from the LDP faction led by former defense minister Shigeru Ishiba, whom he defeated in the LDP leadership race. Abe chose Takeshi Iwaya, a former parliamentary vice defense minister, to replace Itsunori Onodera as defense minister. Iwaya was known recently for backing the legalisation of casinos in Japan. Close ally Akira Amari, a former economics minister who resigned to take responsibility for a funding scandal in 2016, was appointed LDP executive for election strategy ahead of critical upper house elections next year, party officials said. Abe has made clear that he wants to forge ahead with his politically divisive plan to amend the constitution's Article 9 to clarify the ambiguous status of its military, known as the Self-Defense Forces (SDF). But his immediate challenges are to manage fractious trade ties with Washington and keep an economic recovery on track. Last week, Abe and US President Donald Trump agreed to open new talks on a bilateral trade agreement that would see Washington refraining from raising tariffs on Japanese car exports for now, but Trump could revive the threat if progress is slow.
