Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi retained Financial Services Minister Heizo Takenaka and Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi after reshuffling his Cabinet on Monday, defying calls for their ouster from within the Liberal Democratic Party.
Apparently feeling bullish after his sweeping victory in the LDP presidential election two days earlier, Koizumi kept Takenaka, seen as a symbol of the prime minister's economic reform drive, despite mounting demands from LDP veterans that the private sector economist -- a champion of austere fiscal policy and tough bank inspections -- be replaced.
Takenaka will continue concurrently serving as financial services minister and economic and fiscal policy minister, two posts he has held since September, in the new 17-member Cabinet.