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191399
Mon, 06/27/2011 - 19:09
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http://m.oananews.org//node/191399
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Kan revamps Cabinet, Hosono becomes minister for nuclear disaster
Kyodo - Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Monday changed his Cabinet lineup slightly, naming Goshi Hosono, his special adviser, as state minister in charge of dealing with the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
He gave the new ministerial post in charge of reconstruction following the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami to Environment Minister Ryu Matsumoto, who will no longer head the Environment Ministry but will continue to concurrently serve as state minister responsible for disaster management.
Kan told a press conference that the new appointments were made to pursue two objectives -- to implement reconstruction work and prevent the recurrence of a nuclear crisis such as the one in Fukushima Prefecture triggered by the natural disaster.
On choosing Hosono, he referred to the 39-year-old lawmaker's major role in liaising between the government and the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., to help deal with the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.
The premier said Hosono ''knows very well the problems in the public administration of nuclear safety'' and that he wants him to take charge of a blueprint designed to prevent another nuclear crisis.
Kan's appointments also included Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Kazuyuki Hamada as parliamentary secretary for internal affairs and communications, in the hope that he can contribute to reconstruction efforts.
On Monday, Hamada told the LDP that he wants to leave the main opposition party, a move that prompted LDP lawmakers to say they are deeply offended by Kan's decision to recruit Hamada to his government.
''This is a clear challenge to our party,'' LDP Vice President Tadamori Oshima told reporters. ''A relationship of mutual trust completely disappeared.''
Senior LDP lawmakers said the opposition party will not accept Hamada's resignation letter and instead will expel him.
Hamada is the first LDP lawmaker to be part of Kan's government since he took power one year ago. Hamada, a first-term House of Councillors lawmaker, is an international politics expert who has worked as a researcher at the U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Many DPJ lawmakers also criticized Kan for the appointment of Hamada. DPJ Diet affairs chief Jun Azumi told reporters, ''This will not be a plus and the situation will become even more severe'' in finding ways to work together with the LDP to pass key bills in the divided Diet, where the upper house is controlled by the opposition camp.
Under the new lineup, Shizuka Kamei, leader of the People's New Party, the junior partner in the ruling coalition led by the Democratic Party of Japan, will be a special adviser to Kan.
Kamei, 74, said he was asked by Kan to become deputy prime minister but he declined the offer.
Kamei had called for a broad Cabinet reshuffle to enhance Kan's administration to address the triple disasters of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis. But Kan had to forgo the idea amid his looming resignation.
Justice Minister Satsuki Eda, 70, will double as environment minister, while Renho, 43, state minister for administrative reform, will become a special adviser to the premier.
Under the Cabinet Law, the number of ministers, excluding the prime minister, must not exceed 17. There were already 17 ministers and as Hosono, one of the up-and-coming lawmakers of Kan's DPJ, joined the Cabinet, Renho had to leave her ministerial post.
Sumio Mabuchi will no longer serve as a special adviser to Kan.
Following the official appointment of Matsumoto, 60, to the new ministerial post for reconstruction, the government's headquarters for rebuilding the disaster-stricken northeastern region will hold its first meeting on Tuesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said at a news conference.
The headquarters, to be joined by all Cabinet members, will have three local task forces for the most severely affected prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima.
The task forces will be headed respectively by Shogo Tsugawa, parliamentary secretary of infrastructure and transport, Yoshinori Suematsu, a senior vice minister at the Cabinet Office, and Izumi Yoshida, a parliamentary finance secretary, Edano said.
A law outlining Japan's new structure for rebuilding the Tohoku region came into force last week. In addition to creating the new ministerial post, the law will enable the establishment of a government agency to take sole charge of reconstruction measures.
Until the establishment of the agency, expected next year, the headquarters will play a pivotal role in drawing up and arranging reconstruction measures.
He gave the new ministerial post in charge of reconstruction following the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami to Environment Minister Ryu Matsumoto, who will no longer head the Environment Ministry but will continue to concurrently serve as state minister responsible for disaster management.
Kan told a press conference that the new appointments were made to pursue two objectives -- to implement reconstruction work and prevent the recurrence of a nuclear crisis such as the one in Fukushima Prefecture triggered by the natural disaster.
On choosing Hosono, he referred to the 39-year-old lawmaker's major role in liaising between the government and the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., to help deal with the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.
The premier said Hosono ''knows very well the problems in the public administration of nuclear safety'' and that he wants him to take charge of a blueprint designed to prevent another nuclear crisis.
Kan's appointments also included Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Kazuyuki Hamada as parliamentary secretary for internal affairs and communications, in the hope that he can contribute to reconstruction efforts.
On Monday, Hamada told the LDP that he wants to leave the main opposition party, a move that prompted LDP lawmakers to say they are deeply offended by Kan's decision to recruit Hamada to his government.
''This is a clear challenge to our party,'' LDP Vice President Tadamori Oshima told reporters. ''A relationship of mutual trust completely disappeared.''
Senior LDP lawmakers said the opposition party will not accept Hamada's resignation letter and instead will expel him.
Hamada is the first LDP lawmaker to be part of Kan's government since he took power one year ago. Hamada, a first-term House of Councillors lawmaker, is an international politics expert who has worked as a researcher at the U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Many DPJ lawmakers also criticized Kan for the appointment of Hamada. DPJ Diet affairs chief Jun Azumi told reporters, ''This will not be a plus and the situation will become even more severe'' in finding ways to work together with the LDP to pass key bills in the divided Diet, where the upper house is controlled by the opposition camp.
Under the new lineup, Shizuka Kamei, leader of the People's New Party, the junior partner in the ruling coalition led by the Democratic Party of Japan, will be a special adviser to Kan.
Kamei, 74, said he was asked by Kan to become deputy prime minister but he declined the offer.
Kamei had called for a broad Cabinet reshuffle to enhance Kan's administration to address the triple disasters of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis. But Kan had to forgo the idea amid his looming resignation.
Justice Minister Satsuki Eda, 70, will double as environment minister, while Renho, 43, state minister for administrative reform, will become a special adviser to the premier.
Under the Cabinet Law, the number of ministers, excluding the prime minister, must not exceed 17. There were already 17 ministers and as Hosono, one of the up-and-coming lawmakers of Kan's DPJ, joined the Cabinet, Renho had to leave her ministerial post.
Sumio Mabuchi will no longer serve as a special adviser to Kan.
Following the official appointment of Matsumoto, 60, to the new ministerial post for reconstruction, the government's headquarters for rebuilding the disaster-stricken northeastern region will hold its first meeting on Tuesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said at a news conference.
The headquarters, to be joined by all Cabinet members, will have three local task forces for the most severely affected prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima.
The task forces will be headed respectively by Shogo Tsugawa, parliamentary secretary of infrastructure and transport, Yoshinori Suematsu, a senior vice minister at the Cabinet Office, and Izumi Yoshida, a parliamentary finance secretary, Edano said.
A law outlining Japan's new structure for rebuilding the Tohoku region came into force last week. In addition to creating the new ministerial post, the law will enable the establishment of a government agency to take sole charge of reconstruction measures.
Until the establishment of the agency, expected next year, the headquarters will play a pivotal role in drawing up and arranging reconstruction measures.
