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(THE ASAHI SHIMBUN)Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reshuffled his Cabinet on Oct. 7, but retained most key members.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga and Taro Aso, deputy prime minister and finance minister, remain in their portfolios.
Abe, who was recently re-elected uncontested as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, also reappointed all the main party executives, including Secretary-General Sadakazu Tanigaki.
This suggests that Abe, whose Cabinet support rate has been declining, has opted to play it safe by working with a team of political veterans, at least until the Upper House election next summer.
What is notable about this modest juggling of the lineup is the appointment of Taro Kono to multiple portfolios, including minister for regulatory reform and head of the National Public Safety Commission.
In the aftermath of the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture, Kono, together with opposition politicians, formed a nonpartisan group of lawmakers called “Genpatsu Zero no Kai” to push for the elimination of nuclear power generation.
Kono has also criticized the LDP’s draft of amendments to the Constitution, saying, “There are no small number of LDP Diet members who don’t regard the draft as an ideal proposal.”
Kono is a dissenter in the ruling party.
Abe is intent on restarting more idled nuclear reactors and promoting debate on constitutional amendments in line with the LDP’s draft.
We cannot help but wonder what words and actions will emanate from Kono as a member of the Abe Cabinet.
After the Cabinet reshuffle, Abe said, “A powerful team has been put in place to discharge the three new arrows (three core components of his policy agenda) to achieve the key policy goals of gross domestic product of 600 trillion yen, a birthrate of 1.8 per woman based on the wishes of couples and no person quitting a job for nursing care."
Few would find fault with the Abe administration's determination to revitalize the Japanese economy, given its murky outlook.
But some in the business community have voiced skepticism about whether these ambitious goals, including increasing GDP to 600 trillion yen, are really achievable.
It is also unclear how much resonance Abe’s new policy slogan, “Realizing a society where 100 million people can all play an active role,” has among the public even though he has created a new post of minister responsible for this mission.
Abe should be chagrined if people suspect that he is trying to distract them from his much-criticized security policy initiative by shifting the focus of his political agenda toward economic revival.
What the government and the ruling camp should do is to immediately reopen Diet debate with opposition parties on key policy issues.
There is no dearth of appropriate topics for meaningful policy debate on the Diet floor.
How realistic are Abe’s “new three arrows” as policy goals, for instance? What kind of positive and negative effects will the recent agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact have on people’s lives?
Even though new security legislation promoted by the Abe administration has been enacted, many Japanese still don’t think that sufficient debate has been made on related issues. The Diet needs to resume debate on the implications of the legislation in response to the public sentiment.
We are also eager to hear what Kono and other new members of the Cabinet have to say about important policy issues in the Diet.
It is hard to understand why some policymakers within the government and the ruling parties seem willing to let autumn pass without a Diet session.
One reason given is that Abe has a number of overseas trips scheduled. But there must be ways to convene the Diet without disturbing the prime minister’s schedule.
