Japanese Prime Minister and Liberal Democratic Party President Takaichi Zaomiao reorganized the Liberal Democratic Party's high-level and cabinet on September 16 and September 17, respectively. Most of the important positions remained unchanged. The Liberal Democratic Party's ruling partner and members of the right-wing party Japan's reform party entered the cabinet for the first time. In this regard, analysts believe that Gaoshi's personnel adjustment is to prepare for re-election as president of the Liberal Democratic Party in 2027. In the future, she may accelerate her right-wing policy, but this personnel layout cannot solve old problems such as insufficient financial resources, and may also bring new troubles.

On September 17, 2026, in Tokyo, Japan, Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sayaichi (middle) attended a cabinet meeting with cabinet colleagues before the cabinet reorganization, and all cabinet colleagues subsequently resigned.

One is to maintain the political structure, and the other is to win over the opposition parties.

According to comprehensive Japanese media reports, Japanese public opinion generally believes that the personnel adjustment of Gaoshi has the following two major characteristics.

First, maintain the “framework of the regime.” In terms of party personnel, Vice President Taro Aso, Secretary General Toshiichi Suzuki, President of the Government Affairs Investigation, and President Nishimura Yasunari have not changed their key positions. The main adjustment is only the replacement of Yoshiko Haruyama, Chairman of the National Assembly, and the former Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, Hideki Murai.

In terms of the cabinet, eight of the 18 ministers except Takasu remain in office, including Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Hihara, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, and Finance Minister Takayuki Katayama.

Masaji Inoue, a professor at Keio University in Japan, also believes that the retention of these important cabinet officials indicates that there will be no major changes in the diplomatic security policy of the government of the High Government, and sends a signal that it will continue to adhere to a proactive fiscal line.

The second is to change from "cooperation outside the cabinet" to "cooperation within the cabinet" with the Japan Reformation Association ". The Reform Council has not sent anyone to join the cabinet since it formed a ruling coalition with the Liberal Democratic Party in October 2025. In this cabinet reshuffle, former secretary general of the Reform Council, Sihong Nakatsuo, became minister in charge of regulatory reform.

Some analysts pointed out that the Japanese Reformation was only willing to carry out "cooperation outside the cabinet" in order to maintain its flexibility and avoid being too tightly tied to the Liberal Democratic Party, which was caught in the dilemma of "double minority" in both houses of Congress at that time.

However, in the past year or so, Gaoshi has tried its best to win over the Reform Commission, pushed forward a number of policies in the joint governance agreement reached with the Reform Commission, and led the Liberal Democratic Party to a big victory in the House of Representatives election in February this year, consolidating the foundation of the regime. Therefore, the Reform Commission has changed its degree to "cooperation within the cabinet".

Shigeaki Koga, a former official of Japan's Ministry of economy, industry and industry, said that Japan's reform will basically have the same position as the high market in terms of foreign security policy, and even be more hawkish than the high market in some aspects. In the future, the hawkish policy of promoting the high market may further play the role of "stepping on the accelerator.

At the time of this personnel adjustment in Gaoshi, the new party "Middle Road Reform Union" composed of representatives of the important opposition parties, the Cadets and the Komiya Party, officially split on September 16.

In view of the continuous differences between the opposition parties, Hirako Hirako, a professor at Japan's Thamsho University, believes that it is difficult for the opposition parties to effectively resist the expansion of military weapons and the revision of the constitution in Takasu, and Takasu will promote a tougher security policy in the future.

On April 19, 2026, people take part in a protest around the Diet Hall in Tokyo, Japan, calling for the protection of the peace constitution. 

It is intended to consolidate the foundation of the regime and seek re-election.

In Japanese political circles, the prime minister often creates "surprises" through high-level personnel adjustments in the cabinet and the party, thereby boosting support rates. However, Honorary Professor of Keio University Ohsi Guang pointed out that from the past situation, only large-scale personnel adjustments can achieve such an effect, and the scale of this personnel adjustment is not large, and it is not expected that the approval rate of Gaoshi will not change much.

Japanese public opinion generally believes that Takasumi's personnel adjustment mainly focuses on the LDP presidential election next autumn, which is intended to consolidate the political foundation and seek re-election.

Koizumi Shinjiro, Motegi Toshimitsu, and Komayashi Eagoshi are all competitors in last year's LDP presidential election. Generally speaking, a Liberal Democratic Party politician serving as a senior official in the current regime means that he is a supporter of the current regime, and there is no reason to oppose the prime minister and party president who are the leaders of the current regime to seek re-election.

Japan's "Asahi Shimbun" reported that Takaichi tried to stifle the gathering of "anti-Takaichi forces" in the embryonic stage by allowing competitors to retain important positions in the regime. The report also quoted a senior member of the Liberal Democratic Party as saying that the most important thing for Gaoshi is to ensure that he is re-elected in the presidential election, and this personnel arrangement is to lay the foundation for this.

Japan's "Yomiuri Shimbun" analyzed that as the only existing faction in the Liberal Democratic Party, the "Aso faction" led by Taro Aso has 60 members and is still one of the most organized political forces in the party. Mr. Aso's support played a key role in the process of being elected president last year. Takaoshi's retention of Aso and his brother-in-law, Shunyi Suzuki, obviously has the implication of planning ahead of next year's presidential election.

On April 19, 2026, people take part in a protest around the Diet Hall in Tokyo, Japan, calling for the protection of the peace constitution. 

Will continue to face the old problem of insufficient financial resources

Japanese public opinion believes that Takao's personnel reshuffle may bring new problems to her future administration.

According to the "Asahi Shimbun" report, in the high-level personnel adjustment of the Liberal Democratic Party, although Takao took into account Aso, who is regarded as the "guardian of the regime" to a certain extent, he did not fully accept his intention. Aso had hoped that Hiroshi Kajiyama would remain as chairman of the National Assembly, but Takashi insisted on promoting Hideki Murai to the post. According to the report, for Gaoshi, which has a weak foundation in the party, the dissatisfaction surrounding this personnel arrangement may become a ruling risk in the future.

At the same time, the accession of members of the Japan Peace Council to the cabinet may deepen its conflict with the Liberal Democratic Party. Although the two parties have a lot in common in foreign security policy, they also have differences in other policies.

For example, the policy of reducing seats in the House of Representatives promoted by the Revision has been widely opposed by opposition parties in the Diet due to the reduction of the living space of small and medium-sized parties, and there are also many objections within the Liberal Democratic Party. But the Council is adamant about this, trying to pass a bill to reduce the number of seats in the House of Representatives in the interim Congress this fall.

Bai Niao Hao believes that the entry of members of the Reformation Council into the cabinet may give the regime a stronger color of the Reformation Council, which may trigger a backlash within the Liberal Democratic Party.

In addition, the personnel reshuffle shows that Gaoshi will continue to expand its armaments and adhere to a proactive fiscal line. Both the procurement of weapons and equipment and the reduction of consumption taxes require substantial financial support. At present, the Japanese government's debt is high, the market's confidence in Japanese government bonds has declined significantly, and the yield of government bonds has risen rapidly. This means that Gaoshi will continue to face the old problem of insufficient financial resources.

Koga said that if the market does not solve the financial and economic problems well, her current approval rate will not be maintained.