Kazuo Inamori, honorary chairman of Kyocera Corp. and chairman of Japan Airlines Corp., assumed a new post Thursday of part-time special adviser to the Cabinet.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told Inamori, "I would like you to give me advice from a broad perspective on what I should be as a leader."
In line with the appointment, Inamori resigned from the Government Revitalization Unit for administrative reform, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano said.
Inamori had indicated his intention to step down from the post after he agreed to become JAL chairman in January to lead the rehabilitation of the debt-ridden airline.
"For a while, I will work hard for the reconstruction of JAL" as it undergoes government-led restructuring, he said.
Inamori, who founded Kyocera, a Kyoto-based maker of electronics products, is one of the few business leaders to have supported the Democratic Party of Japan since before the party took power last summer.