PM Abe says new Cabinet of 'hands-on types' formed to take Japan into new era

TOKYO -- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters that his fourth Cabinet launched on Oct. 2 was made up of "hands-on types" and compared it to a tightly-knit baseball team where all the players and coaches are striving together for victory.

"The (ruling) Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is rich in human resources," he told the news conference at the prime minister's office on the evening of Oct. 2. "I'd like to create as many chances as possible for these people. I selected people with a hands-on approach to their jobs for the new Cabinet."

Abe said he made the personnel selections based on an understanding that Japan is at an historic turning point with the close of the Heisei era in 2019 and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. The era change will occur when Emperor Akihito abdicates on April 30, 2019, and Crown Prince Naruhito ascends to the throne on May 1.

Among various challenges the fourth Abe Cabinet faces, the prime minister places particular emphasis on reforming Japan's social security system to cover all generations amid aging and depopulation. Specifically, Abe said his government will "boldly" invest funds in efforts to support childrearing generations, as Japan's birthrate remains low and the country's population is aging.

When asked about giving the justice minister's portfolio to Takashi Yamashita, a member of an intraparty faction led by Shigeru Ishiba who ran against Abe in the Sept. 20 party leadership race, the prime minister answered that he picked Yamashita because he is well versed in Justice Ministry policies.

"I didn't have room to think about who voted for whom in the party presidential election" in carrying out the reshuffle, he said, emphasizing that his priority is to strengthen party unity.

Abe reiterated that the LDP will submit its draft amendments to the Constitution to an extraordinary Diet session to be convened soon. He explained that the action is necessary because "we won last year's House of Representatives election after pledging to submit our proposal on constitutional revisions to the Diet." As to how to convince the LDP's coalition partner Komeito, which is cautious about constitutional revisions, Prime Minister Abe said, "We must provide a careful and detailed explanation."

The prime minister has proposed adding a new paragraph explicitly stipulating the existence of the Self-Defense Forces to the Constitution's Article 9, while retaining both paragraph 1 renouncing war, and paragraph 2 banning Japan from possessing "war potential" such as sea, land and air forces.

Meanwhile, Abe retained Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga and gave him new duties as minister in charge of the issue of abduction of Japanese nationals by North Korea.

The premier said Suga's new role is necessary to strengthen the collaboration between the administrative branch and the ruling coalition to tackle the tough issue as the situation on the Korean Peninsula "entered a new phase with a U.S.-North Korea summit in June" that produced an agreement on the peninsula's denuclearization. "We'll do our best to resolve the issue as early as possible," Abe said.