TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reshuffled his Cabinet on Wednesday in an apparent bid to distance his administration from the conservative Unification Church, whose ties to the assassinated leader Shinzo Abe and senior ruling party leadership caused a major drop in approval ratings.
The Cabinet renewal was the second in just 10 months since Kishida took office following the July election victory that had been expected to ensure long-term stability until 2025. But Abe’s shocking assassination on July 8 and its impact on politics increased uncertainty as public support for Kishida’s Cabinet plunged.
Kishida told reporters Tuesday that a “strict review” of candidates’ ties to the church would be a “prerequisite” in the new lineup of Cabinet officials and Liberal Democratic Party executives.
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He said he had instructed his ministers and other senior officials to clarify their connection to the Unification Church “so that we can achieve political and administrative work that can be trusted by the people.” At a governing party meeting earlier Wednesday, he called on his fellow lawmakers to unite and tackle the challenges with a sense of urgency.
Read more: Why Shinzo Abe Will Continue to Govern Japan for Years After His Death
Abe was fatally shot while giving a campaign speech two days before a parliamentary election. Police and media reports say the man arrested had targeted Abe over suspected ties to the Unification Church, which the man hated because his mother’s massive financial donations to the church had ruined his family.
Kishida said the main purpose of the reshuffle was to “break through one of biggest postwar crises” such as the coronavirus pandemic, inflation, growing tensions between China and self-ruled Taiwan and Russia’s war on Ukraine.
A survey released Monday by the NHK public television showed support for Kishida’s Cabinet fell to 46% from 59%.
Most of the respondents said they think politicians have not sufficiently explained their ties to the Unification Church. Kishida’s plan to hold a state funeral for Abe has also split public opinion because of Abe’s arch-conservative stances on national security and wartime history. Critics see a state funeral as the government attempt to glorify Abe’s legacy.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, who retained his post, announced the new lineup, including five who kept their posts, another five who were brought back and nine first-timers.
Seven ministers who acknowledged their ties to the church were removed. They include Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, Abe’s younger brother, who said that church followers were volunteers in his past election campaigns, and Public Safety Commission Chairman Satoshi Ninoyu, who attended an event organized by a church-related organization.
Kishi was replaced by former Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada, and Taro Kono, who previously served as a vaccination tsar during the pandemic as well as foreign and defense minister, returned to the Cabinet as digital minister.
Along with Matsuno, Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, Economy Minister Daishiro Yamagiwa, Transportation Minister Tetsuo Saito and Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki also kept their jobs.
Economy and Trade Minister Koici Hagiuda, who also had church ties, was shifted to head the party policy research committee and replaced by former Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura. Katsunobu Kato was appointed health minister for the third time, tasked with coronavirus measures.
Read more: Looking Back at TIME’s Coverage of Shinzo Abe: ‘I Am a Patriot.’
The new Cabinet suggested Kishida tasked veterans with key policies such as diplomacy, defense, economic security and pandemic measures while carefully keeping a power balance among party wings to solidify unity amid growing speculation of a power struggle within Abe’s faction.
Despite criticism that Japanese politics is dominated by older men, the majority of the Cabinet members are still men older than 60, with only two women.
They include Sanae Takaichi, a ultra-conservative close to Abe who was appointed economic security minister, and Keiko Nagaoka, a first-timer who became education minister and replaced Shinsuke Suematsu, who also acknowledged his Unification Church links.
The church, founded in Seoul in 1954 by the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon, came to Japan in the 1960s as his staunch anti-communist stance and family-oriented value system were supported by Abe’s grandfather and former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi.
The church since the 1980s has faced accusations of devious recruitment and brainwashing of its adherents into making huge donations. The church has denied allegations, saying it has tightened compliance.
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