Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Wednesday appointed seven Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers implicated in a high-profile slush fund scandal as senior or parliamentary vice ministers, reversing the approach of her predecessors in a move that may draw backlash from opposition parties.
The government led by Takaichi, who on Tuesday became Japan's first female prime minister, approved a list of 26 senior vice ministers, including Iwao Horii, Yukinori Nemoto, Hajime Sasaki and Yasuyuki Sakai.
In addition, 28 parliamentary vice ministers were approved, including Harumi Takahashi, Takuo Komori and Ryusho Kato.
The seven lawmakers were all linked to the political funds scandal and belonged to a now-defunct LDP faction formerly led by the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told a press conference the government simply put "the right person in the right place" and that the LDP members in question "have already been disciplined and fulfilled their responsibility in explaining."
The LDP, which has held power almost continuously since its founding in 1955, came under intense scrutiny after some of its intraparty groups, including Abe's, failed to report income from fundraising events and amassed slush funds.
Since the scandal emerged in late 2023, public trust in the LDP has plunged, and the previous ruling coalition, comprising the LDP and the Komeito party, lost control of both houses of parliament in the most recent national elections.
Komeito, a self-styled pacifist party, ended the coalition over the LDP's "insufficient" handling of the scandal.
Takaichi has already stirred controversy by appointing Koichi Hagiuda, a heavyweight lawmaker implicated in the scandal and a close confidant of Abe, as executive acting secretary general after winning the LDP presidential race on Oct 4.
Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Takaichi's predecessor, Shigeru Ishiba, had refrained from appointing lawmakers linked to the funds scandal to key government posts.
With the new ruling coalition between the LDP and the Japan Innovation Party holding a minority in both the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors, cooperation from the opposition bloc is required to pass budgets and legislation.
Satoshi Honjo, policy chief of the largest opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, told a separate news conference that the appointments are "very regrettable."
Yuichiro Tamaki, head of the major opposition Democratic Party for the People, expressed a similar view, telling reporters that Takaichi's government will be held "accountable" for the appointments at parliamentary sessions.
JIP leader Hirofumi Yoshimura signaled that his party has no intention of treating the appointments as problematic, saying that deciding the top ministerial posts is the prime minister's "exclusive prerogative."
© KYODO
45 Comments
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Mr Kipling
This is the change Japan was looking for? Same old, same old....
Aoi Azuuri
Corrupted new regime who working for vested interests, not for citizen.
shogun36
Her motto is, if you have a (criminal) record, you have a (top) position with me!
Moral of the story kids, crime pays in the LDP.
sakurasuki
Any objection for Komeito decision?
Legrande
Plain as day LDP will continue as always.
However they find it difficult to lord it over the other parties, unless they sell out like Yoshimura.
Saltwater Shenanigans
of course she did, was anyone expecting anything different?
obladi
probably the price of getting elected
KazukoHarmony
She seems a lot like Trump, doesn’t she? She just doesn’t give a flip about what the public thinks of her choices. She’s got all the power.
BigP
Good old corrupt LDP old boys club.
mu-da
Koichi Hagiuda, Kei Sato, Michiaki Fuda, Takashi Umi, Ryusho Kato, Yasuyuki Sakai, and Hajime Sasaki. All seven came out of the former corrupt Abe faction, which was central to the 2023–2024 slush fund scandal. In hindsight, Ishida was a really decent PM, who avoided personnel tainted by corruption and sidelined Aso and Takaichi - which was the main reason he lost his job. Now we are back to a new era of the worst elements of the LDP., Never mind with a female PM.
Mr Kipling
She has no power, she is the "front" for Aso and his gang.
kibousha
You can't get rid of them without the party's support. Takaichi maybe top, but dinosaurs like Aso still call the shot.
Aly Rustom
This is a blatant "in your face- I don't give a damn about corruption" message
LDP= Lack of Decency Party
dbsaiya
She just gave the middle finger to everyone and the public is okay with it. Another article here says that her new cabinet has an approval rating of 64.4%. Hagiuda has been implicated in so many scandals but he keeps rebounding and is constantly voted back in by his constituents. No one to blame but the Japanese themselves. Nothing has changed.
Namorada
Nordic style government?
Instead the same old fossils stay in charge…
Will_Rendle
dbsaiyaToday 07:50 am JST
Well... Hagiuda did see his share of the vote drop by about 20%, meaning only 38% of his constituents support him. They don't want the LDP or slimeballs like this but they get screwed over by a first-past-the-post system that really breaks down when there are more than two major parties.
YankeeX
Land of the status quo
lincolnman
I think those of us that have been in Japan for awhile know what "the deal is here"...
Takaichi-san will serve as a figurehead, with little power, while Aso pulls the strings from behind the curtain...
This is both good and bad - good in that this might keep some of her far-right views in check, and bad in that once again we'll be forced to deal with the LDP's ingrained corruption and money-politics...
The only Prime Ministers that have consolidated a little power to buck the mandarins are those with some charisma that the public takes a liking to - Koizumi and Abe for example...I don't see Takaichi having that...
My guess is the LDP/JIP coalition won't have the staying power of the LDP/Komieto one...which may not matter as the opposition parties continue to be weak, fractured, and message-less...
Those that have high hopes for Sansieto will be disappointed - even young Japanese have no desire to repeat the ethnocentrism and failures of the late 30's Japanese Empire...
tamanegi
Meanwhile we await the 3000 or 4000 goods price rise at the beginning of a month in the near future.
u_s__reamer
LDP means never having to get off the gravy train. The ghost of Abe won't go away.
quercetum
A democracy only on paper and a state with limited sovereignty.
quercetum
Assuming they even know what happened back then. Big assumption.
marc laden
Takchi may may appoint some Half Japanese half foreigner to his cabinet .. good news for all the foreigners here..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-ywFmwoGVA
Nancy
Roughly twenty unique comments above — and with the exception of Marc, not a single one has anything remotely positive to say about the new administration. Quite a debut.
Will_Rendle
marc ladenToday 09:08 am JST
No it's not. Do you not know anything at all about her?
Spitfire
Spot on as usual.
Brian Nicholls
The LDP never learns. Over the 50 years I have been following Japanese politics they have always prioritised personal interest over the public good, greed over ethics and morals, and lies over honesty, from the Tanaka Kakuei Lockheed scandal to the current donations mess. Mind you, most other Japanese politicians have been little better. I also despair of the political apathy of Japanese young people. I appreciate that there are few good choices, but if the under 30s can't be bothered to get off their backsides and vote, they will always be saddled with corrupt and incompetent governments.
okinawarides
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Wednesday appointed seven Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers implicated in a high-profile slush fund scandal as senior or parliamentary vice ministers,
You couldn't make this stuff up.
Nyan
The message is clear:
In Japan, if you get caught in a scandal, you don’t get fired. You get promoted. Japan’s new cabinet is basically corruption cosplay.
What a joke of a cabinet.
Yubaru
She obviously forgot she is in a coalition government. She is setting herself up to have a very short stay as PM.
lincolnman
Sure you could - you support a guy for President that has 34 felony convictions - and one cabinet member (Navarro) has served jail time...
Nyan
@Will_Rendle Today 10:13 am
100% agree. Even in Japanese-only spaces, the pattern’s the same — a loud 20-year-oldish part-timers or two yelling without a clue.
Starting to think Japan Today’s got an English troll unit on patrol duty.
Some dude
She’s a woman but she clearly understands the way of the old boys’ club.
masterblaster
And this is what happens.
All the minor parties had to do is stop bickering and quarrelling over minor points for a second, unite, choose one candidate, beat the LDP then go ahead and continue fighting afterwards. The LDP was at its weakest months ago. But the public has a short memory. Most of the scandals have been forgotten by the voters.
With these cabinet picks the LDP has shown it feels it has weathered the storm.
Cephus
"Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told a press conference the government simply put "the right person in the right place" and that the LDP members in question "have already been disciplined and fulfilled their responsibility in explaining."
End of story period!! It's new era new dawn, let's put politicking aside and Make Nippon Shine Again.
Will_Rendle
CephusToday 10:58 am JST
Again.... The facts and details in these news stories just don't matter to you very much, do they. Takaichi is PM now and everything is wonderful, is that it?
grc
There was a reader here a few days ago who excoriated Komeito for ‘abandoning’ the LDP and said they hope Komeito got ‘what’s coming to them’. Komeito said quite clearly that Takaichi’s inaction on the slush funds scandal was their prime reason for quitting the coalition
Nyan
“Make Nippon Shine Again”?
Buddy, this is political science — people stopped voting LDP because they wanted to shine. Even Komeito bailed.
HopeSpringsEternal
Tricky balance, PM needs loyalty and LDP party unity, along with need for cabinet talent, offset by risk of further damage to the party's $scandal/corruption 'brand'
Cephus
“Make Nippon Shine Again”?
Buddy, this is political science — people stopped voting LDP because they wanted to shine. Even Komeito bailed."
And it will SHINE for the whole world to see the true meaning of being "Fair" and "Just" mind you Komeito was not the solution but a problem.
Nyan
Cephus,
They called it “harmony,” but it was pure political rot — compromise turned into corruption.
Japan doesn’t need another silent partner in decay. It needs accountability, loud and clear.
You’ve clearly never studied political science or economic history.
Nyan
Cephus,
"And it will SHINE for the whole world to see the true meaning of being "Fair" and "Just" mind you Komeito was not the solution but a problem."
⬆️⬆️
Exactly. Komeito kept the LDP’s rotten factions alive for decades.
They called it “harmony,” but it was pure political rot — compromise turned into corruption.
Japan doesn’t need another silent partner in decay. It needs accountability, loud and clear.
You’ve clearly never studied political science or economic history.
okinawarides
Endearing anti Trump drivel is completely irrelevant to this article.
okinawarides
LDP means never having to get off the gravy train. The ghost of Abe won't go away.
Indeed, with the likes of godfather Aso pulling the strings that is the unfortunate reality.
lincolnman
Uh-huh...
So explains to us why your disdain for Takaichi's cabinet isn't reflected in any disdain for a 34 felony convicted Commander in Chief or a former jailbird Counselor to the President?