Japan’s New Premier Taps Women, Reformers for Cabinet
After being elected Japan’s prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi wasted no time Thursday surpassing expectations of change, installing a Cabinet that includes a record five women--all in key posts--and filling his roster with committed reformers.
Makiko Tanaka led the list of women on Koizumi’s team, given the crucial portfolio of foreign minister at a time of bumpy ties with the United States and Japan’s Asian neighbors.
Koizumi, who was elected prime minister by parliament after winning a ruling party mandate for change, also put women at the helm of the ministries of justice, transportation, education and the environment.
That represents almost a third of the Cabinet in a nation where women represent only one-tenth of lawmakers and where only a few have made it to the top of corporations.
“It’s a revolutionary Cabinet,” Tanaka declared.
Joining her in the Cabinet are Mayumi Moriyama as justice minister and Atsuko Toyama as education minister. Chikage Ogi and Yoriko Kawaguchi stayed on as transport minister and environment agency chief, respectively.
The position of finance minister went to Koizumi ally Masajuro Shiokawa, a man.
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