Japanese politics is entering a crucial period. On Sept. 30, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reshuffled his Cabinet for the first time since taking office in April 2001. The reshuffle, however, was limited in scale. Moreover, he kept his party's executive lineup unchanged.
The main feature of the Cabinet reshuffle was the appointment of Economics Minister Heizo Takenaka as financial services minister, the post that had been held by Hakuo Yanagisawa. The double appointment was meant to erase the impression of disunity in economic and fiscal policy. The two men had been seen to hold different views on banking reform.
The reshuffle was taken as a message that Koizumi was shifting his policy paradigm from structural reform to economic recovery. It was a bold, "Koizumi-style" personnel move that defied conventional wisdom.