Japanese PM Fumio Kishida names record-tying 5 women to cabinet in reshuffling

Sept. 13 (UPI) -- Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reshuffled his cabinet on Wednesday naming five women ministers, tying a record number of women ministers in a Japanese governing cabinet.

Kishida, the leader of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party selected of total of 11 new leaders in his 19-minister cabinet, with those keeping their positions including Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura.

One of the holdover female ministers, Yoko Kamikawa was moved from justice minister to high-profile foreign minister.

A new member of the cabinet, lower house member Ayuko Kato, will serve as minister in charge of child policies and the three other women named to the cabinet included Sanae Takaichi, who was retained as economic security minister, Hanako Jimi as rural revitalization minister and Shinako Tsuchiya as construction minister.

Toshimitsu Motegi, seen as Kishida's top party rival, retained his spot as the LDP secretary-general. Motegi deflected talk about replacing Kishida after keeping his post.

"We have a mountain of domestic and international issues to deal with, and we must address them," he told reporters. "For this purpose, I would like to support the Kishida administration. That is all I can say."

The party hopes the reshuffling will end poll slides that saw Kishida's popularity tumble over inflation and a controversial national identification card system.

The term of the current lower House is not scheduled to end until October 2025, but it is expected that Kishida may dissolve the body ahead of time and call for snap elections if his poll numbers improve.