Former health minister Shigeyuki Goto was on Tuesday tapped as economic revitalization minister to replace Daishiro Yamagiwa, who stepped down from the post the day before over his ties with the controversial Unification Church.
But whether the latest move will help Prime Minister Fumio Kishida put an end to mounting criticism over his handling of issues related to the Unification Church and focus instead on pressing matters such as rising prices remains to be seen.
Goto, a former Finance Ministry bureaucrat who has a masters degree in economics from Brown University in Rhode Island, will immediately be busy with an economic stimulus package to be compiled by the end of this week, as well as an extra budget to finance it.