While Junichiro Koizumi's appointment of Makiko Tanaka as foreign minister took the nation by surprise, some experts warn she could be a mixed blessing for the new prime minister despite her strong popular appeal.
The sharp-tongued Tanaka, daughter of late Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, has stayed out of the party's mainstream but has often been cited in media surveys as the public's No. 1 choice as prime minister.
Tanaka, who first applied the "eccentric" tag to Koizumi when he unsuccessfully ran for LDP president in 1998, will surely be the main attraction of the prime minister's 17-member team.