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Aso Cabinet (Formed September 24, 2008)

Aso Cabinet

Hawkish Liberal Democratic Party President Taro Aso was elected prime minister Wednesday and immediately formed his new Cabinet.

The new lineup, however, is short on high-profile politicians who can draw the votes necessary to drastically boost the Cabinet's standing in the opinion polls — a problem that plagued the crew of his moderate predecessor, Yasuo Fukuda, the second leader to resign in two years.

Former LDP policy chief Shoichi Nakagawa, a close ally of Aso who also is a right-leaning conservative, was named both finance minister and financial services minister in a double appointment.

Economic and fiscal policy minister Kaoru Yosano kept that post, while former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba was given the post of agriculture minister. Both ran against Aso in the LDP election.

Adding youth to the lineup was 34-year-old Yuko Obuchi, daughter of the late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, as minister in charge of tackling the birthrate problem. Obuchi is now the youngest Cabinet minister in postwar history.

Taking the post of chief Cabinet secretary — the prime minister's top assistant and government spokesman — is former education minister Takeo Kawamura. Kawamura, however, isn't used to dealing with the media spotlight, and some observers say he is too low-profile to fill the position at a time when an election is looming.

Former education minister Hirofumi Nakasone, son of powerful former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, was named foreign minister.

Seiko Noda, 48, who became the youngest Cabinet member when she was appointed posts and telecommunications minister at age 37, remained consumer affairs minister.

Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe and Environment Minister Tetsuo Saito of New Komeito also returned.

The post of education minister went to Lower House member Ryu Shionoya.

Subsequent changes

PRIME MINISTER Taro Aso

PRIME MINISTER

Taro Aso

MINISTER OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS AND COMMUNICATIONS Kunio Hatoyama

MINISTER OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS AND COMMUNICATIONS

Kunio Hatoyama

JUSTICE MINISTER Eisuke Mori

JUSTICE MINISTER

Eisuke Mori

FOREIGN MINISTER Hirofumi Nakasone

FOREIGN MINISTER

Hirofumi Nakasone

MINISTER OF EDUCATION, CULTURE, SPORTS, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Ryu Shionoya

MINISTER OF EDUCATION, CULTURE, SPORTS, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Ryu Shionoya

MINISTER OF HEALTH, LABOR AND WELFARE Yoichi Masuzoe

MINISTER OF HEALTH, LABOR AND WELFARE

Yoichi Masuzoe

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES Shigeru Ishiba

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES

Shigeru Ishiba

MINISTER OF ECONOMY, TRADE AND INDUSTRY Toshihiro Nikai

MINISTER OF ECONOMY, TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Toshihiro Nikai

MINISTER OF LAND, INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT AND TOURISM Kazuyoshi Kaneko

MINISTER OF LAND, INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT AND TOURISM

Kazuyoshi Kaneko

ENVIRONMENT MINISTER Tetsuo Saito

ENVIRONMENT MINISTER

Tetsuo Saito

DEFENSE MINISTER Yasukazu Hamada

DEFENSE MINISTER

Yasukazu Hamada

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY Takeo Kawamura

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY

Takeo Kawamura

NATIONAL PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION CHAIRMAN, STATE MINISTER IN CHARGE OF OKINAWA AND AFFAIRS RELATED TO THE NORTHERN TERRITORIES Tsutomu Sato

NATIONAL PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION CHAIRMAN, STATE MINISTER IN CHARGE OF OKINAWA AND AFFAIRS RELATED TO THE NORTHERN TERRITORIES

Tsutomu Sato

FINANCE MINISTER AND STATE MINISTER FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES
STATE MINISTER IN CHARGE OF ECONOMIC AND FISCAL POLICY Kaoru Yosano

FINANCE MINISTER AND STATE MINISTER FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES STATE MINISTER IN CHARGE OF ECONOMIC AND FISCAL POLICY

Kaoru Yosano

STATE MINISTER IN CHARGE OF ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS Akira Amari

STATE MINISTER IN CHARGE OF ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS

Akira Amari

STATE MINISTER IN CHARGE OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS Seiko Noda

STATE MINISTER IN CHARGE OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS

Seiko Noda

STATE MINISTER IN CHARGE OF POPULATION AND GENDER EQUALITY Yuko Obuchi

STATE MINISTER IN CHARGE OF POPULATION AND GENDER EQUALITY

Yuko Obuchi