The lineup of the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership and the Cabinet under new Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda testifies to Mr. Fukuda's eagerness to create a whole-party setup that can overcome the offensive from the opposition forces, which now control the Upper House.

Mr. Fukuda appointed leaders of four of the eight factions that supported him in the LDP presidential election to the LDP's top four posts and the leaders of two other factions that also supported him to two Cabinet posts.

Although Mr. Fukuda asked Mr. Taro Aso, former foreign minister and LDP secretary general, who was his rival in the election, to join the Cabinet, Mr. Aso firmly refused to do so. But Mr. Fukuda opted to retain two Cabinet ministers who had voted for Mr. Aso in an apparent attempt to secure party unity and not alienate Mr. Aso. The two Cabinet ministers in question are Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama and Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akira Amari.

In forming his Cabinet, Mr. Fukuda retained 13 of the 17 Cabinet members appointed by his predecessor Mr. Shinzo Abe in the same positions — a fact that gives people the impression that the new Cabinet lacks freshness. The retention of so many Cabinet members reflects the emergency situation created by the sudden resignation of Mr. Abe while the Diet was in session.

Mr. Fukuda had to retain many Cabinet members because, if he had appointed new ones, they might not have had time to adequately prepare to answer questions in the Diet. Of the four members appointed to new posts, two were just shifted to new posts from their posts in the Abe administration.

One of the two is Mr. Nobutaka Machimura, the head of the faction to which Mr. Fukuda belongs. He was shifted from the post of foreign minister to the post of chief Cabinet secretary, whose main job is to coordinate business within the Cabinet and between the Cabinet and the LDP and to serve as a spokesperson for the prime minister. The appointment of Mr. Machimura to this post is an indication of Mr. Fukuda's strong desire to stabilize his Cabinet in a difficult situation as symbolized by the process in which he was selected as the nation's 91st prime minister by the Diet on Tuesday.

While the Lower House, dominated by the LDP-Komeito ruling coalition, nominated Mr. Fukuda as prime minister, the Upper House nominated Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, head of the Democratic Party of Japan, as prime minister — the first time since 1998 that the two chambers have named different lawmakers as prime minister. After consultations in a joint council of representatives of both houses failed to reach an agreement, the Lower House's decision to make Mr. Fukuda prime minister prevailed in accordance with a constitutional provision.

The event serves as a reminder that the Fukuda administration and the LDP will have to carefully proceed with legislative work in the Diet now that the ruling coalition has lost its majority in the Upper House.

Mr. Fukuda shifted Mr. Masahiko Komura, head of a faction that supported him in the presidential election, from the post of defense minister to foreign minister. Mr. Komura has experience and expertise in foreign affairs. The prime minister newly appointed Mr. Shigeru Ishiba as defense minister. Mr. Ishiba was defense chief under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi when Japan sent Self-Defense Force troops to Iraq on a humanitarian mission. Mr. Ishiba is well-versed in defense policy.

The appointment of both Mr. Komura and Mr. Ishiba points to Mr. Fukuda's determination to extend the Maritime Self-Defense Force's refueling activities in the Indian Ocean as part of an antiterrorism mission. A law that serves as the legal basis for the MSDF mission in the Indian Ocean expires Nov. 1. The DPJ and other opposition parties vehemently oppose continuing the refueling activities.

In addition to the MSDF's Indian Ocean mission, Mr. Fukuda cannot help concentrating for the time being on solving problems left over from the Abe administration, such as the pension fiasco and the gaps between the rich and poor and between prosperous urban areas and economically shattered rural areas.

The prime minister apparently hopes that Mr. Yoichi Masuzoe, who was retained as health and welfare minister, will demonstrate his ability to solve pension-related problems and that Mr. Hiroya Masuda, who was retained as internal affairs minister, will show ingenuity in coping with the problem of the urban-rural economic gap. Mr. Masuzoe, a well-known face on TV, was a showpiece of the Abe administration. Mr. Masuda was a reformist governor of Iwate Prefecture.

To address economic gaps in various fields — a negative legacy of the Koizumi administration's reform policy — will be an important task of the Fukuda administration. But it has yet to develop detailed measures and find funds to tackle the problem.