Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba and defence chief Satoshi Morimoto remain in post and party heavyweight Seiji Maehara is brought in to oversee national strategy, a powerful roaming brief that covers everything from fiscal policy to space matters.
Noda said he wanted Maehara “to use his ability to develop strategy for reviving Japan and to implement economic measures as commander of the entire government”.
Waseda University’s Yamamoto said Maehara’s promotion was the flip side of Noda’s decision to elevate Tanaka and was done to please party hawks.
“You cannot expect Tanaka to convince the conservative camp within the DPJ (on China) so Maehara is there to balance out her appointment,” he said.
Finance Minister Jun Azumi was moved aside, with the relatively unknown Koriki Jojima taking the reins of the world’s third-largest economy.
Commentators said his appointment was a strategic move by a prime minister who may soon find his legislative programme hemmed in by opposition threats to stymie parliament, including blocking a key finance bill.
Mikitaka Masuyama, professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, said Jojima was a respected negotiator.
“Unless the bill for special bond issuance passes, the government’s coffers will be empty,” he said, adding that Jojima had wide experience of navigating parliament’s labyrinthine party system.
The premier is under pressure to call an election this year after offering his opponents a vague pledge to dissolve parliament “sometime soon” in exchange for their support on a pet project to raise sales tax.
But woeful opinion poll numbers have left many in his factionally-riven party fearing for their seats, with the opposition Liberal Democratic Party seen likely to narrowly come out on top in a national ballot.
Japan’s main opposition party chose former premier Shinzo Abe as its new leader last week, in a vote that potentially positions him to be reinstated as prime minister.
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