Japan's Prime Minister and Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) President Sanae Takaichi enters the Prime Minister's Office after being appointed by the parliament in Tokyo, Wednesday. AFP-Yonhap
TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was reappointed Wednesday by Parliament to form her second Cabinet, following last week's landslide election win that she hopes will allow a hard-right move to the country's policies. All previous ministers are expected to be retained.
Takaichi will look to use the symbolism of the day, seen as a formality, to further boost her ruling Liberal Democratic Party as it looks to capitalize on a two-thirds supermajority in the lower house, the more powerful of Japan’s two parliamentary chambers.
Her goals include an increase in military power, more government spending and strengthened conservative social policies.
Having two-thirds control of the 465-seat lower house allows Takaichi’s party to dominate top posts in house committees and push through bills rejected by the upper house, the chamber where the LDP-led ruling coalition lacks a majority.
Takaichi wants to bolster Japan’s military capability and arms sales, tighten immigration policies, push male-only imperial succession rules and preserve a criticized tradition that pressures women into abandoning their surnames.
Her ambition to revise the U.S.-drafted postwar pacifist Constitution might have to wait, for now, as she is facing pressure to deal with rising prices, a declining population and worries about military security.
Her first urgent task is to address rising prices and sluggish wages and pass a budget bill to fund those measures, delayed by the election.
Takaichi proposes a two-year sales tax cut on food products to ease household living costs.
Experts caution that her liberal fiscal policy could drive up prices and delay progress on trimming Japan’s huge national debt.
Source: Korea Times News
