"I want to learn from the experience of my previous administration, including the setbacks, and aim for a stable government."
- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
New Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced his cabinet on Wednesday, as he begins battling deflation and pushing economic growth. The cabinet will be stacked with close allies, as the Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner have a two-thirds majority in the lower house. Former prime minister Taro Aso will become Japan's next finance minister, while Akira Amari was named as minister for economic revival. At the same time, Toshimitsu Motegi will become trade minister. Soon after the elections, Abe has promised unlimited monetary easing by the Bank of Japan, and said the government will do big fiscal spending in order to slay the deflation.
"I want to learn from the experience of my previous administration, including the setbacks, and aim for a stable government. The LDP is still under the critical eyes of the public. We need to earn their trust by getting things done one by one," Abe told reporters before parliament's lower house voted him in as Japan's seventh prime minister in six years.
"These are really LDP right-wingers and close friends of Abe," said Sophia University professor Koichi Nakano. "It really doesn't look very fresh at all."
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