TOKYO, Sept 13, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - Japan's struggling Prime Minister Fumio

Kishida named new foreign and defence ministers on Wednesday in a major
reshuffle that raised the number of women in the cabinet to five.

Kishida's popularity and his standing within the ruling party have dived
since he took office in October 2021, and many voters are not happy with his
government's handling of the world's third-largest economy.

The 66-year-old will stand for re-election next year as president of the
fractious Liberal Democratic Party, which has dominated politics for decades,
and experts said the cabinet reshuffle was an attempt to shore up his
approval ratings.

Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi was replaced by Yoko Kamikawa, one of five
women in the new cabinet, chief cabinet secretary and government spokesman
Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters.

Kamikawa, 70, is Japan's first woman foreign minister in 19 years.

She was justice minister five years ago when Japan executed the leader and
members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult for their role in the deadly 1995 sarin
attack on the Tokyo subway.

Minoru Kihara, 54, succeeded Yasukazu Hamada as defence minister, just as
Japan faces a rising threat from North Korea and deteriorating relations with
China.

Public support for the Kishida government stood at just 36 percent against 43
percent for disapproval, according to a poll released Monday by national
broadcaster NHK.

A majority of voters are not satisfied with the government's policy to
address inflation, according to a Yomiuri poll published last month.

Kishida said Sunday that he plans to "implement a bold economic package" to
address the impact of rising prices on voters.

And he stuck with his economic team in the reshuffle.

Shunichi Suzuki stays as finance minister and Yasutoshi Nishimura retains the
ministry of economy, trade and industry ministry.

Kishida's flamboyant former rival Taro Kono remains in charge of digital
affairs.

Farm minister Tetsuro Nomura, who recently made a gaffe about the release of
waste water from the disaster-hit Fukushima nuclear plant, was replaced.

- 'Rank hypocrisy' -

"The cabinet shuffle is, as usual, an attempt to shore up faltering approval
ratings," said Brad Glosserman at Pacific Forum research institute.

It aims to make Kishida's internal re-election "more likely by boosting
public support (and) to ensure that factions within the LDP continue to
support him," he told AFP.

Public support has been hit in recent months due to issues including the
troubled new "My Number Card" identification system.

Scandals have also taken their toll, including "inappropriate behaviour" by
Kishida's son, who was removed from the position of his secretary earlier
this year.

Magazine photos showed invitees to a party thrown by Shotaro Kishida
pretending to hold a press conference and one lying down on red-carpeted
stairs.

In the reshuffled cabinet, five of the 19 ministers are women, up from two
previously.

That is the joint highest number in Japan's history.

In June, Kishida's government set new rules that top listed firms should by
2025 have at least one woman director, and that by 2030 women should form 30
percent of boards.

His cabinet move "is an attempt to counter the rank hypocrisy by which
successive governments call for greater participation of women in business
yet provide virtually no representation in the cabinet," said Glosserman.

"Let's see how long they last."