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Fukuda Reshuffles Cabinet in Bid to Restore Confidence

apanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda was reshuffling his Cabinet on Friday, a move widely seen as an attempt to restore confidence in his leadership following scandals over missing pension records and alleged bribery.

     Fukuda, 72, has to balance the need to please senior lawmakers to maintain his party leadership with the need to satisfy the public with fresh faces to send a message of change.

     As he worked to select the new members of his Cabinet to be announced Friday night, early indications were that he would favor the old guard.

     Fukuda also announced new leaders in his Liberal Democratic Party, including former Foreign Minister Taro Aso as secretary-general.

     Aso acknowledged the ruling party faced a serious crisis in winning over a disenchanted public. Many Japanese are growing pessimistic about their future and worried about the economy because of surging oil prices and other problems, he said.

     "Just because we have a new structure, that doesn't mean all is well," Aso said. He promised to push forward an economic stimulus and other programs.

     In the Cabinet reshuffle, veteran lawmaker Kaoru Yosano, 69, is set to become economic and fiscal policy minister, while Bunmei Ibuki, 70, the outgoing secretary-general of the ruling party, will likely be the new finance minister, Japanese media reported.

     Fukuda will retain Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura, Health Minister Yoichi Masuzoe, Internal Affairs Minister Hiroya Masuda and Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura, public broadcaster NHK and Kyodo News reported.

     Fukuda's overall public approval rating has fallen to about 20 percent in recent months, as top defense officials have been arrested on suspicion of bribery and tax evasion and bureaucrats have been accused of accepting alcohol and snacks in taxis whose fares were paid by taxpayer money.

     Fukuda also must avoid the mistake of his predecessor Shinzo Abe, who picked several ministers who later had to resign because of money scandals.

     Opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa lambasted the planned Cabinet reshuffle Thursday as a cosmetic change of politicians' faces.

     "What people really want is a fundamental political change Ñ a change in policies, something more substantial," he said on NHK TV.

     The opposition, which controls the upper house of parliament, has been challenging the ruling party over the recent scandals and is pressing for early elections. The ruling party, which has led Japan almost continuously for more than half a century, controls the more powerful lower house in a coalition.

     Fukuda, who took office in September, has kept a low profile and has not achieved the popularity of the flamboyant Junichiro Koizumi, the prime minister before Abe.

     ___

     Associated Press writer Jay Alabaster contributed to this report.

Newly appointed Consumer Affiars Minister Seiko Noda arrives at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo Friday, Aug. 1, 2008 after Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda picked a new Cabinet. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

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