Sanae Takaichi, the new Japanese Prime Minister, who has been known for her hawkish conservative stance, to the point of being called the "Abe of women," has appointed a large number of right-wing politicians to key positions in her first cabinet.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Kyodo News. 

Prime Minister Takaichi finalized the cabinet appointments immediately after being elected Prime Minister at the extraordinary Diet session on the 21st.

According to the list, Minoru Kihara (56), the former Minister of Defense, has been appointed as the Chief Cabinet Secretary, who serves as the government spokesperson and the second-in-command of the cabinet.

Like Prime Minister Takaichi, he is a politician who has frequently visited Yasukuni Shrine, where Class-A war criminals from World War II are enshrined. Last year, he visited the shrine even while serving as the Minister of Defense.

This was the first visit by a sitting Minister of Defense to Yasukuni Shrine in three years.

At the time, when the South Korean government expressed its regret, he stated, "I will not change my stance on domestic affairs."

Satsuki Katayama (66), the former Minister for Regional Revitalization, has been selected as the Minister of Finance, another key post.

Katayama, a female politician with a background as a bureaucrat in the Ministry of Finance, has shown her pro-Takaichi stance by acting as a recommender for Takaichi during the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election.

In 2012, when then-President Lee Myung-bak visited Dokdo, she argued through articles in magazines and other publications that economic sanctions, such as freezing the currency swap with South Korea, should be imposed.

In particular, when the statue of a girl was installed in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul in 2011, she denied the forced abduction of comfort women by the Japanese military and demanded the removal of the statue.

Satsuki Katayama, appointed as the new Finance Minister of Japan. Kyodo News. 

Toshimitsu Motegi (70), the former Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party, who has been appointed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, was also the Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2021 when the two governments were in conflict over issues such as the agreement on comfort women. He had conflicts with the South Korean government, attacking by saying that "the situation where the goalposts are moved by South Korea is always happening."

Shinjiro Koizumi (44), former Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, who has been appointed as the Minister of Defense, has also regularly visited Yasukuni Shrine.

He visited the shrine on August 15th, V-J Day, this year, even while serving as a cabinet minister.

These two individuals, along with Yoshimasa Hayashi (64), former Chief Cabinet Secretary, who has been appointed as the new Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, were rivals who competed with Prime Minister Takaichi for votes in the recent LDP presidential election. They have been reappointed as ministers under Prime Minister Takaichi's personnel policy of "all active."

In addition, Hirotaka Ishihara (61), who will serve as Minister of the Environment for the first time, is the third son of Shintaro Ishihara, the former Governor of Tokyo, who was famous as a "manufacturer of extreme right-wing remarks."

Minoru Kihara, the new Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary. Kyodo News. 

Former Governor Ishihara was an extremely right-wing politician who made numerous controversial remarks during his lifetime, such as claiming that Japan's colonization of Korea was for self-defense or that Korea chose annexation.

There are as many as 10 individuals appointed to the cabinet for the first time, including Norikazu Suzuki (43) for Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Hitoshi Kigaida (55) for Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Hisashi Matsumoto (63) for Minister of Digital Affairs, Jiro Akama (57) for Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, Kimi Onoda (42) for Minister for Economic Security, Hiroshi Hiraguchi (77) for Minister of Justice, and Yohei Matsumoto (52) for Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

Although Prime Minister Takaichi is Japan's first female Prime Minister, only two female ministers, Finance Minister Katayama and Minister for Economic Security Onoda, have been appointed.

Ryosei Akazawa (63), the former Minister for Economic Revitalization who was in charge of trade negotiations with the United States in the Shigeru Ishiba cabinet, has been appointed as the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry.

In addition, Kenichiro Ueno (60) was selected as the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, Yasushi Kaneko (64) as the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Takao Makino (66) as the Minister of Reconstruction, Hitoshi Kigaida (55) as the Minister for Low Birthrate, and Minoru Kiuchi (60) as the Minister for Economic Revitalization.

Yonhap News