JAPAN: Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe holds his first meeting with a cabinet that includes many women among many of his old allies

Record ID: 466820

  • Title: JAPAN: Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe holds his first meeting with a cabinet that includes many women among many of his old allies
  • Date: 26th December 2012
  • Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (DECEMBER 26, 2012) (REUTERS) ***CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** EXTERIOR OF JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICIAL RESIDENCE POLICE OFFICER IN FRONT OF PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICIAL RESIDENCE NEW JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER, SHINZO ABE, WALKING INTO OFFICIAL RESIDENCE MORE OF ABE WALKING INTO OFFICIAL RESIDENCE CAMERA PERSON FILMING JUSTICE MINISTER, SADAKAZU TANIGAKI, WALKING INTO OFFICIAL RESIDENCE GENDER EQUALITY AND DECLINING BIRTHRATE MINISTER, MASAKO MORI MORI WALKING BY CAMERAMEN ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM MINISTER, TOMOMI INADA, WALKING INTO PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICIAL RESIDENCE
  • Embargoed: 10th January 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA31167ME6A0I9QK4J953HTZ39L
  • Story Text: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held his first cabinet meeting late on Wednesday (December 26) as he looked to kick off his second attempt at running the country.
    Abe's new cabinet includes several women.
    Abe appointed a cabinet of close allies who share his conservative views in key posts, but leavened the line-up with Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) rivals to provide ballast and fend off criticism of cronyism that dogged his first administration.
    In addition to cabinet picks such as ex-prime minister Taro Aso and Loyal Abe backer Yoshihide Suga, the cabinet this time also includes two women Masako Mori, minister for gender equality and declining birthrate, and Tomomi Inada, minister for administrative reform.
    Japanese media said the effort reflected the party's attempt to appeal to women ahead of the upper house election's next year.
    The grandson of a former prime minister, Abe has staged a stunning comeback five years after abruptly resigning as premier in the wake of a one-year term troubled partly by scandals in his cabinet and public outrage over lost pension records.
    Abe's long-dominant LDP surged back to power in this month's election, three years after a crushing defeat at the hands of the novice Democratic Party of Japan.
    The LDP and its small ally, the New Komeito party, won a two-thirds majority in the 480-seat lower house in the December 16 election. That allows the lower house to enact bills rejected by the upper house, where the LDP-led block lacks a majority.
    But the process is cumbersome, so the LDP is keen to win a majority in the upper house to end the parliamentary deadlock that has plagued successive governments since 2007.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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