Kaifu Names 2 Women to Cabinet in Japan, Hopes to Stem Socialist Tide

In the hope of stemming a rising tide of popularity for Socialist leader Takako Doi, Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu today named two women to an all-new Japanese Cabinet.

It was the first time in Japan’s history that two women were named to the Cabinet at the same time. Only three women have held Cabinet posts in the past, the last one five years ago.

Kaifu’s other appointments emphasized a traditional balance of ruling party factions at the expense of foreign policy considerations. All three of the ministers who accompanied Prime Minister Sosuke Uno to the summit conference in Paris last month were dismissed.

Surprise Appointment

The big surprise was the appointment of Sumiko Takahara, an economist who has often served on government advisory councils. She will head the Economic Planning Bureau, the government’s economic coordinator.

No woman without a seat in Parliament had ever been named to the Cabinet.

Takahara said, “I have written repeatedly in books that the movers of Japan’s economy are women, with housewives as the core, to whom attention must be paid. I intend to carry out my conviction. Until now economic policy has focused on macroeconomic and corporate theories, but from now, the focus must be put on the people’s livelihood.”

Mayumi Moriyama, a member of the same party faction to which Kaifu belongs, was named director of the environment agency. Before being elected to the upper house of Parliament, she had been an official of the Labor Ministry.

The one attempt Kaifu made to give priority to diplomatic over domestic considerations failed when Nobuo Matsunaga, Japan’s ambassador to the United States, rejected repeated entreaties to become foreign minister. Matsunaga has argued in favor of settling economic disputes with the United States.

Kaifu made the appointments after being elected prime minister by the lower house of Parliament. The vote in the upper house, which by law is not binding if in conflict with that in the lower house, was in favor of the Socialist Doi. It was the first time in 41 years that the opposition candidate has won an upper-house vote, and Doi called it a historic turning point.

“The events of today, Aug. 9, represent the first day of the beginning of the end of the long--the very long--one-party rule of the Liberal Democratic Party,” she said. “There is no mistake about this fact. We renew our resolve to strive, together with the other opposition parties, to open wide the door of history.”