Profiles of New Ministers for Japan PM Abe’s 4th Cabinet II

October 3, 2018

Takamori Yoshikawa, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister

Yoshikawa, 67, was first elected to the Lower House in 1996, after serving as a member of the Hokkaido prefectural assembly and working as a secretary to late former Foreign Minister Iichiro Hatoyama and his deceased second son, Kunio, former justice minister.

As secretary-general of an LDP committee on the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, Yoshikawa made efforts to coordinate opinions on the multilateral free trade pact within the party.

He has been busy handling matters related to natural disasters that hit Hokkaido this year, as he serves as chairman of the federation of LDP branches in the northernmost prefecture.

Yoshikawa took a cabinet portfolio for the first time, after experiencing defeats in two Lower House elections.

He relaxes by watching sports programs on television.



Masahiko Shibayama, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology

Shibayama, 52, won a Lower House by-election as a publicly recruited candidate of the LDP in 2004, when Abe was secretary-general of the party.

Seen as a promising conservative politician by Abe, the lawyer-turned-lawmaker was appointed an adviser to the prime minister and a special adviser to the LDP president.

Within the party, however, there are worries about his behavior. In June, Shibayama said Abe's parliamentary remarks had undoubtedly prompted the Finance Ministry to manipulate documents related to a high-profile favoritism scandal hitting the administration. He immediately retracted the comment.

Shibayama once dreamed of becoming a singer. He still sings well.



Satsuki Katayama, Minister for Regional Revitalization

Katayama, 59, joined the Finance Ministry in 1982 after graduating from the University of Tokyo. She is the first woman who became budget director at the ministry.

Those who entered the ministry that year also included Junichi Fukuda and Nobuhisa Sagawa. Fukuda resigned as vice minister in April this year over a sexual harassment scandal, while Sagawa quit as National Tax Agency commissioner the previous month over the ministry's manipulation of documents linked to a controversial discount sale of state land to school operator Moritomo Gakuen.

An aggressive and ambitious person, Katayama entered politics in 2005, when Koizumi dissolved the Lower House to realize postal privatization. She was among the so-called Koizumi's children who became lawmaker for the first time in the year's Lower House election.

Katayama has made mistakes stemming from thoughtless behavior.

She was criticized for showing up late at an informal executive meeting of the House of Councillors Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee even though she was chair of the committee.

In July this year, she drew fire for attending a drinking party among LDP members, called Akasaka Jimin-tei, at a time when western Japan areas were being hit by heavy rains.



Yoshitaka Sakurada, Minister for 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics

A man who went through hardships in life, Sakurada, 68, worked as a carpenter while attending university. He was first elected to the Lower House in 1996, after serving as a member of the Kashiwa municipal and Chiba prefectural assemblies.

Many mention Sakurada's friendliness, despite his tough-looking.

He thrusted himself into wrangling over the issue of so-called comfort women, who were forced to provide sex at Japanese army brothels chiefly during World War II.

He was forced to retract his remark in which he said that those women, mostly Korean, were working as prostitutes, and theirs was a form of business, after a backlash from people both in and out of Japan.

His hobbies are mountain climbing and cooking.



Mitsuhiro Miyakoshi, Minister for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs

Miyakoshi, 67, served four consecutive terms as a member of the Toyama prefectural assembly before he was first elected to the Lower House in 1998.

He is well versed in issues related to the Northern Territories, as many former residents on the four Russian-held islands off Hokkaido were born in Toyama.

Miyakoshi is also known for his familiarity with agricultural policies. In August this year, he, as special adviser to the prime minister, clinched a deal to remove Brazil's import restrictions on agricultural products from Fukushima Prefecture, hit by Japan's worst nuclear accident in March 2011.

He was among Abe's key supporters in last month's party leadership election.

Miyakoshi loves smoking and drinking "awamori" spirits, a specialty of Okinawa Prefecture.



Junzo Yamamoto, National Public Safety Commission Chairman, Minister for Disaster Management

Junzo Yamamoto, 63, is a protege of former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori. Yamamoto belongs to an LDP faction led by former Secretary-General Hiroyuki Hosoda.

Yamamoto held various posts in the government, the LDP and the Diet, including state minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism, acting LDP secretary-general and chairman of the Upper House steering committee.

He is head of the LDP's chapter in Ehime Prefecture.



Takuya Hirai, Minister for Science and Technology

Hirai's grandfather, Taro, and father, Takushi, were politicians who served as postal minister and labor minister, respectively, and his mother is the owner of newspaper publisher Nishinippon Shimbun Co.

After working at advertising agency Dentsu Inc. and heading Nishinippon Broadcasting Co., Hirai, 60, ran in the Lower House election in 2000 and won.

Very knowledgeable in information and technology, Hirai contributed to lifting a ban on the use of the Internet in election campaigns and enacting the basic law on cybersecurity.

In the LDP presidential race, he played a leading role in video streaming and online opinion polls in Abe's camp. Jiji Press