Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Fumio Kishida prepares to head for a Cabinet meeting on Aug. 5. (Koichi Ueda)

HIROSHIMA--Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said here Aug. 6 he would reshuffle his Cabinet as well as the executive lineup of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in the coming week.

The personnel changes will be announced Aug. 10, according to several government and LDP sources.

Speaking at a news conference here after attending a ceremony to mark the 77th anniversary of the city’s atomic bombing, Kishida said, “I always felt I wanted to begin putting a new structure in place as soon as possible to deal with the pressing issues facing the nation.”

He pointed to the urgency of the seventh wave of the COVID-19 crisis and surging consumer prices as well as diplomatic issues concerning Ukraine and Taiwan, strengthening the nation’s defense, managing natural disasters and implementing steps to breathe new life into the economy.

Kishida also called for strengthened security ahead of a planned state funeral on Sept. 27 for Shinzo Abe, the former prime minister gunned down in Nara on July 8.

Kishida was asked if his personnel choices would be affected by the ties potential Cabinet ministers have to the Unification Church, formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.

“I want not only those who will be newly appointed but all current ministers and senior vice ministers to carefully look into their ties with the organization in question and to release the results of that study,” Kishida said. “I will also give instructions to review any such ties to make sure they are appropriate.”

Sources said Aug. 6 that Kishida intended to keep Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, LDP Vice President Taro Aso and LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi in their present posts as a way of maintaining the core part of his administration. 

Initially, LDP stalwarts expected the personnel changes would be made between late August and early September.

But Kishida insisted that he always felt the changes should be made as soon as possible.

While it remains to be seen how drastic the reshuffle will be, Kishida now has two ministers who basically have private sector status because they did not stand for re-election in the July 10 Upper House election.

Decisions about Abe’s state funeral and how much it will cost will have to be made by the end of August and central government ministries will also submit their requests for the fiscal 2023 budget around the same time.

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