Abe Cabinet Inaugurated

On September 26, Shinzo Abe, president of the Liberal Democratic Party, was elected as the nation's 90th prime minister at plenary sessions of both Upper and Lower Houses, and his Cabinet was inaugurated on the evening of the same day. Mr. Abe, aged 52, is the youngest post-war prime minister.

At his first press conference as prime minister on September 26, he said that he would create a country full of vitality, opportunities, and kindness. He outlined a broad agenda for his new Cabinet, which he called "a cabinet that will create a beautiful Japan," which will involve "building a society where people are given opportunities to remake their lives," "realizing a simple, efficient, and lean government," and "establishing a society friendly to raising children."

Attention was drawn, in his selection of cabinet members, to the fact that, following the practice of the White House, where in some cases presidential advisors on individual policies can be more influential than cabinet members, he enhanced the power of his office by increasing the number of special advisors to the prime minister to five, and appointing close allies to all five posts.

The formation of his Cabinet seems, as the majority of the mass media remarked, to favor rather strongly the people who supported him in the LDP presidential election and others who have conservative political beliefs close to his own.

Despite the recent economic upturn, the new Cabinet still faces a plethora of policy issues regarding, for example, government debts (which have exceeded 800 trillion yen and are still increasing) and the population, which has started shrinking. While Prime Minister Abe made clear that the new administration would accelerate and reinforce the structural reform which his predecessor started, his statements on his policies sounded rather abstract, which makes one wonder how he will translate them into reality.

As for the political situation, the Abe administration is expected to face severe opposition from the Democratic Party of Japan, which ardently hopes that the LDP will lose its majority in the Diet, at an Upper House election to be held in the summer next year, and every political party (including both of them) is already going ahead with preparations for the election. In line with this, Mr. Abe's fledgling administration must refrain from hard-line measures which may upset the public.

Hakuo Yanagisawa was appointed Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare. At a joint press conference, the new minister answered various questions regarding a number of issues: reform of the Social Insurance Agency; measures against the decline in the birthrate; the unification of the Employees' Pension Plan and the Mutual Pension Plan for public servants; and revision of labor-related laws, among others. While the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has made efforts to reform various policies such as pension schemes, family-care systems and the medical system over the past three years, Mr. Yanagisawa stated his intention to tackle revision of labor-related laws and other issues, saying "it is the turn of the labor administration to deal with these issues." It will be interesting to see how discussion of this controversial revision of the laws, among other issues, will overcome the current stagnation arising from a conflict of opinions among government, labor and management.