Ahead of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's planned reshuffle of his Cabinet on Wednesday, more names were put forward Tuesday for top ministerial posts.
Sources said Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Tomomi Inada will be handed the defense portfolio, which would make her only Japan's second female defense chief after Yuriko Koike, who was elected Tokyo governor on Sunday.
Inada is known to hold views similar to Abe's on security and foreign policy, and is a regular visitor to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, where convicted war criminals are enshrined along with millions of war dead.