Japanese PM Noda revamps Cabinet, 8 new faces in

Noda announced at a press conference the appointments of ex- Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara as national policy minister, and Koriki Jojima who was chief of Diet affairs in ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) as finance minister, among others, in a bid to bolster the waning public support for his year-old government.

The premier also tapped Makiko Tanaka, another former foreign minister who used to enjoy huge public popularity for her sharp tongue, as education minister.

Hiroyuki Nagahama, deputy chief Cabinet secretary, and Shinji Tarutoko, former acting secretary general of the DPJ, become the environment minister and internal affairs minister.

Noda gave the posts of health, labor and welfare minister and postal privatization minister to ex-deputy transport minister Wakio Mitsui and Mikio Shimoji, secretary general of the DPJ's coalition partner the People's New Party, respectively.

Tadamasa Kodaira and Keishu Tanaka were appointed as the national security committee chairman and justice minister.

Among the ten Cabinet appointees, eight are first-timers except Tanaka and Mitsui.

"The revamped lineup will strengthen the government amid a pile of problems home and abroad," Noda said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura, Deputy Prime Minister Katsuya Okada, Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba, Defense Minister Satoshi Morimoto, Industry Minister Yukio Edano and Reconstruction Minister Tatsuo Hirano will stay in their current posts.

Transport Minister Yuichiro Hata and Farm Minister Akira Gunji who took the portfolio in a Cabinet revamp in June, will also retain their positions.

The reconfigured Cabinet will be formally inaugurated with an attestation ceremony at the Imperial Palace in the afternoon.