Abe picks hawkish defense minister in reshuffle

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has reshuffled his cabinet. More than half of the 19-member Cabinet was changed on Wednesday night.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (2nd R, Front) and cabinet ministers pose during a photo session at Abe's official residence in Tokyo, capital of Japan, on Aug. 3, 2016. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in a cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday, retained almost half of his ministers in their current positions although controversially appointed Tomomi Inada, the former head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's policy research Council, to take on the defense minister portfolio replacing Gen Nakatani. (Xinhua/Ma Ping)

10 ministers were replaced. But key Cabinet members, including Finance Minister Taro Aso, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, retained their positions. 

Tomomi Inada was appointed defense minister. She shares Abe's goal of revising the post-war, pacifist constitution, which some conservatives consider as a humiliating symbol of Japan's World War Two defeat. 

Newly appointed Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada (R, Front) and other cabinet ministers leave after a photo session at Abe's official residence in Tokyo, capital of Japan, on Aug. 3, 2016. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in a cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday, retained almost half of his ministers in their current positions although controversially appointed Tomomi Inada, the former head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's Policy Research Council, to take on the defense minister portfolio replacing Gen Nakatani. (Xinhua/Ma Ping)

Inada is the second female to fill the post. She also regularly visits Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine for war dead, which China and South Korea see as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.