TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is making arrangements to reshuffle her Cabinet and the executive lineup of her ruling Liberal Democratic Party as early as Sept. 16, government sources said Monday.
The move is likely aimed at giving the Takaichi administration time to prepare for an extraordinary parliamentary session that the government and the LDP-led ruling bloc plan to convene in early October, according to the sources.
A senior government official has told the LDP that Takaichi intends to seek authorization to decide the party's new executive lineup at its executive committee meeting on Sept. 15, the sources said.
She is expected to carry out the reshuffle, including appointments of senior vice ministers and parliamentary vice ministers at government ministries, between Sept. 16 and 18, the sources said.
The reshuffles would come after Cabinet approval of a tax reform package to cut the consumption tax on food and beverages from 8 percent to 1 percent for two years starting next April, the sources said.
Cabinet approval is expected on Sept. 15, but if it is delayed, the Cabinet and party personnel appointments may come after Takaichi's planned visit to the United States to attend the U.N. General Assembly's general debate later that month, the sources added.
In the first such reshuffle since she took office last October, Takaichi is expected to retain former Prime Minister Taro Aso, who remains influential in the LDP, and his brother-in-law Shunichi Suzuki as the party's vice president and secretary general, respectively, according to the sources.
On Monday, Takaichi and Suzuki held a meeting in the prime minister's office in Tokyo. After the talks, Suzuki told reporters that the two discussed plans for the Cabinet and LDP executive reshuffles, among other topics.
Regarding the Cabinet lineup, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi are likely to remain, the sources said, adding that Takaichi is willing to tap LDP policy chief Takayuki Kobayashi for a key position.
The three LDP lawmakers, along with internal affairs minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, ran against Takaichi in the LDP presidential election in October 2025. Takaichi won the race and became Japan's first female prime minister later that month.
Expectations are also growing that the prime minister will retain Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama, who would play a significant role in achieving the tax cut and pursuing her pledge to boost Japan's economy through expansionary fiscal policy despite inflationary pressure.
