Prospective Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida plans to retain Nobuo Kishi as defense minister and name education minister Koichi Hagiuda as trade minister in a new Cabinet he will launch Monday, sources said Sunday.
Kishida is also set to appoint Seiko Noda, one of his three rivals in last week's leadership election of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, as minister in charge of declining birthrates and gender equality.
Kishida plans to name Daishiro Yamagiwa, a former senior vice trade minister, as economic revitalization minister and Takayuki Kobayashi, a former parliamentary vice minister of defense, as minister for economic security, a newly created post.
Under outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Kishi has striven to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific in the face of an increasingly assertive China.
Hagiuda, as minister of education, culture, sports, science and technology, led the government's efforts to promote digitalization at schools so as to facilitate distance learning as Japan was hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
Kishida is set to be elected prime minister at the start of an extraordinary session of parliament on Monday.