Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced a week ago that Japan will join the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks, and when his Cabinet met Friday, he said his administration will launch a 100-member TPP task force to gear up for bargaining.

The head of the task force, economic revitalization minister Akira Amari, will face a delicate balancing act, trying to handle both the TPP negotiations and domestic policy coordination, including accommodating the interests of various stakeholders, particularly the heavily protected agricultural sector, which strongly opposes the trade pact.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the task force team will include 70 negotiators and about 30 staffers in charge of domestic coordination.