Motegi, Onodera expected to join Abe’s new cabinet

August 1, 2017

TOKYO- Liberal Democratic Party senior lawmakers Toshimitsu Motegi and Itsunori Onodera are expected to join the new cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe whose lineup will be announced Thursday, informed sources said Tuesday. At an executive meeting, the ruling LDP decided to leave decisions on the planned shakeup of the cabinet and the party's leadership team entirely to the discretion of Abe, the party's president. Abe showed his resolve to make a fresh start. The prime minister told an informal meeting of cabinet ministers, "With the new lineup, I'm hoping to move a range of policies forward more strongly, together with the people." Abe plans to retain Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, 76, who doubles as finance minister, and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, 68, in order to maintain the foundation of his administration. Motegi, 61, chairman of the LDP's Policy Research Council, is tipped to take an economic affairs post. Onodera, 57, acting chairman of the same panel and former defense minister, is drawing expectation that he will come back as minister and rebuild the Defense Ministry, shaken by a cover-up scandal, the sources said. Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Keiichi Ishii, 59, from Komeito, the junior coalition partner of the LDP, is set to stay on, while Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Sanae Takaichi and Justice Minister Katsutoshi Kaneda are expected to leave.Jiji Press