Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi retained many of her Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) executives on Wednesday, in her first reshuffle since taking the helm of the ruling party about a year ago.
Takaichi kept the influential former prime minister Taro Aso as vice-president and his brother-in-law, Shunichi Suzuki, as secretary general, as she seeks to maintain continuity ahead of what is likely to be a packed legislative agenda into the end of the year.
Policy chief Takayuki Kobayashi was also retained, while Hiroshi Kajiyama, a former industry minister seen as a safe pair of hands, replaced Haruko Arimura as head of the LDP’s decision-making General Council.
Kajiyama’s former role as Diet affairs chief was filled by House of Representatives member Hideki Murai, previously a deputy chief Cabinet secretary under former prime minister Fumio Kishida.