Takaichi Cabinet Reshuffle 2026: The New Ministers and Advisors
Japan's 17 September 2026 cabinet reshuffle brought in eleven new cabinet-level appointees and three new Prime Minister's advisors. Who they are, what they did before, and whom they replaced.
On 17 September 2026, Prime Minister Takaichi reshuffled her cabinet, forming the Second Takaichi Reshuffled Cabinet (第二次高市改造内閣). The reshuffle brought in eleven new cabinet-level appointees and three new Prime Minister’s advisors, while the core economic, fiscal and defense ministers stayed.
Takaichi described the reshuffle as intended to move policy implementation forward based on ministers’ expertise rather than factional considerations, while also bringing the LDP’s coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party (Nippon Ishin no Kai), into the Cabinet for the first time. The result is more a targeted personnel refresh than a change in overall policy direction.
Below is a briefing on the new faces: who they are, what they did before, and the post they now hold. Each entry notes who they replaced.
The new faces at a glance
| Post | New appointee | Replaces |
|---|---|---|
| Internal Affairs and Communications | FUJII Hisayuki 藤井 比早之 |
HAYASHI Yoshimasa 林 芳正 |
| Justice | YAMASHITA Takashi 山下 貴司 |
HIRAGUCHI Hiroshi 平口 洋 |
| Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology | SEKI Yoshihiro 関 芳弘 |
MATSUMOTO Yohei 松本 洋平 |
| Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries | YANA Kazuo 簗 和生 |
SUZUKI Norikazu 鈴木 憲和 |
| Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism | IBAYASHI Tatsunori 井林 辰憲 |
KANEKO Yasushi 金子 恭之 |
| Environment | SASAGAWA Hiroyoshi 笹川 博義 |
ISHIHARA Hirotaka 石原 宏高 |
| Digital | FURUKAWA Toshiharu 古川 俊治 |
MATSUMOTO Hisashi 松本 尚 |
| Reconstruction; Disaster Management | HOSONO Goshi 細野 豪志 |
MAKINO Takao 牧野 たかお |
| National Public Safety Commission | HANASHI Yasuhiro 葉梨 康弘 |
AKAMA Jirou あかま 二郎 |
| Administrative Reform; Children’s Policy; Regulatory Reform | NAKATSUKA Hiroshi 中司 宏 |
Briefs drawn from KIKAWADA, KIUCHI and MATSUMOTO |
| Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary (House of Councillors) | NAKANISHI Yusuke 中西 祐介 |
SATO Kei 佐藤 啓 |
| PM advisor: national security | WAKAMIYA Kenji 若宮 健嗣 |
OUE Sadamasa 尾上 定正 |
| PM advisor: regional future strategy | SASAKI Hajime 佐々木 紀 |
INOUE Takahiro 井上 貴博 |
| PM advisor: price relief, fiscal policy, digital | MATSUMOTO Hisashi 松本 尚 |
MATSUSHIMA Midori 松島 みどり |
The new cabinet ministers
FUJII Hisayuki (藤井 比早之), Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications
Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications; Regional Revitalization; regional future strategy; deputy-capital development
総務大臣／内閣府特命担当大臣（地方創生）／地域未来戦略担当／副首都整備等推進担当
New, first cabinet post. Replaces 林 芳正 (HAYASHI Yoshimasa); takes regional revitalization from 黄川田 仁志 (KIKAWADA Hitoshi). LDP · House of Representatives, Hyogo 4 (6 terms) · b. 1971, Nishiwaki
A former Ministry of Internal Affairs official now heading his old ministry. Vice-Minister at the Cabinet Office (2020, then the vaccine rollout in 2021), the first Vice-Minister for Digital (2021), Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs (2024), LDP Foreign Affairs Division chair, and Lower House Agriculture Committee chair (2025). The deputy-capital brief signals the Osaka "second capital" agenda the coalition partner cares about.
YAMASHITA Takashi (山下 貴司), Minister of Justice
Minister of Justice; Gender Equality; women's empowerment; legal-system review and reform
法務大臣／内閣府特命担当大臣（男女共同参画）／女性活躍担当／法制度検証・改革担当
New to post, returning minister. Replaces 平口 洋 (HIRAGUCHI Hiroshi); takes gender equality from 黄川田 仁志 (KIKAWADA Hitoshi). LDP · House of Representatives, Okayama 2 (6 terms) · b. 1965, Takamatsu
A former Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office prosecutor and Columbia Law School Fulbright graduate. Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Justice (2017–18), then Justice Minister in the fourth Abe reshuffle (2018–19); most recently Lower House Cabinet Committee chair. A second run at the ministry, now paired with a review-and-reform mandate over the legal system.
SEKI Yoshihiro (関 芳弘), Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
文部科学大臣
New, first cabinet post. Replaces 松本 洋平 (MATSUMOTO Yohei). LDP · House of Representatives, Hyogo 3 (7 terms) · b. 1965, Komatsushima
A former Sumitomo Bank banker with a UK MBA. Vice-Minister for the Environment (2016) and for METI (2018), LDP Environment Division chair, Lower House Environment Committee chair (2021) and Disaster Countermeasures Committee chair (2026). A private-sector and industrial-policy profile at a ministry usually led by education specialists.
YANA Kazuo (簗 和生), Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
農林水産大臣
New, first cabinet post. Replaces 鈴木 憲和 (SUZUKI Norikazu). LDP · House of Representatives, Tochigi 3 (6 terms) · b. 1979, Tokyo
Keio commerce graduate elected in 2012. Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Land and Transport (2017), LDP Agriculture and Forestry Division chair (2021), Vice-Minister for Education (2022) and Lower House Security Committee chair (2023). The agriculture-division chairmanship is the relevant credential: he inherits the rice-price and food-security file.
IBAYASHI Tatsunori (井林 辰憲), Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism
Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism; water-cycle policy; International Horticultural Expo
国土交通大臣／水循環政策担当／国際園芸博覧会担当
New, first cabinet post. Replaces 金子 恭之 (KANEKO Yasushi). LDP · House of Representatives, Shizuoka 2 (6 terms) · b. 1976
A Kyoto University environmental engineer who joined the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism as a career official before entering politics in 2012, and now returns as its minister. Parliamentary Vice-Minister for the Environment, LDP Finance Division chair, Vice-Minister at the Cabinet Office and Lower House Finance Committee chair. An engineer-bureaucrat at MLIT is a continuity signal for the infrastructure, logistics and data-center-grid files.
SASAGAWA Hiroyoshi (笹川 博義), Minister of the Environment
Minister of the Environment; Nuclear Emergency Preparedness; bear-damage countermeasures
環境大臣／内閣府特命担当大臣（原子力防災）／クマ被害対策担当
New, first cabinet post. Replaces 石原 宏高 (ISHIHARA Hirotaka). LDP · House of Representatives, Gunma 3 (6 terms) · b. 1966, Tokyo
A Gunma prefectural assemblyman before the Diet, he has spent most of his ministerial career at this ministry: Parliamentary Vice-Minister for the Environment (2017–19) and Vice-Minister (Suga, 2020), then Lower House Agriculture Committee chair and Vice-Minister for Agriculture under Ishiba. As chairman of the party's Special Committee on Wildlife Damage Countermeasures he has concentrated on the bear problem. With incidents mounting across the country, bears are a politically live issue in rural Japan, which makes his new bear-damage countermeasures brief a salient one.
FURUKAWA Toshiharu (古川 俊治), Minister for Digital
Minister for Digital; AI and digital reform; cyber security; content strategy; IP, science and technology, space, AI, ocean and cyber-security policy
デジタル大臣／AI・デジタル改革推進担当／サイバー安全保障担当／コンテンツ戦略担当／内閣府特命担当大臣（知的財産戦略、科学技術政策、宇宙政策、人工知能戦略、海洋政策、サイバー安全保障）
New, first cabinet post. Replaces 松本 尚 (MATSUMOTO Hisashi); takes IP, science and technology, space, and AI from 小野田 紀美 (ONODA Kimi) and ocean policy from あかま 二郎 (AKAMA Jirou). LDP · House of Councillors, Saitama (4 terms) · b. 1963, Saitama
A surgeon (Keio MD and PhD) who also qualified as a lawyer and holds an MBA, Furukawa is one of the Upper House's most prolific committee chairs: Finance, National Basic Policy, political reform, and the regional-revitalization and digital-society special committee. LDP Health and Justice Division chair and Upper House policy-deliberation chair. His brief is far broader than his predecessor's: it consolidates the science, technology, space, AI, IP and ocean portfolios under one minister alongside the Digital Agency and cyber security.
HOSONO Goshi (細野 豪志), Minister for Reconstruction and Disaster Management
Minister for Reconstruction; Disaster Management; Fukushima recovery; preparation for the Disaster Management Agency; national resilience; international disaster cooperation
復興大臣／内閣府特命担当大臣（防災）／福島原子力発電所事故再生総括担当／防災庁設置準備担当／国土強靱化担当／国際防災協力担当
New to post, returning minister. Replaces 牧野 たかお (MAKINO Takao); takes disaster management from あかま 二郎 (AKAMA Jirou). LDP · House of Representatives, Shizuoka 5 (10 terms) · b. 1971, Ayabe
The cabinet's only former Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) minister. In his previous ministerial role, Hosono led the response to the Fukushima nuclear accident (Minister for the Environment and Nuclear Accident Response, 2011–12), and later served as DPJ secretary-general and twice as its policy chief before joining the LDP in 2021, where he became PRC deputy chair. He now carries the Fukushima file he opened fifteen years ago, plus the establishment of the new Disaster Management Agency.
HANASHI Yasuhiro (葉梨 康弘), Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission
Chairman, National Public Safety Commission; territorial issues; CBRNE counter-terrorism; Okinawa and Northern Territories; consumer affairs and food safety; Ainu policy
国家公安委員会委員長／領土問題担当／CBRNEテロ対策担当／内閣府特命担当大臣（沖縄及び北方対策、消費者及び食品安全、アイヌ施策）
New to post, returning minister. Replaces あかま 二郎 (AKAMA Jirou) as NPSC chair; takes Okinawa, consumer affairs and Ainu policy from 黄川田 仁志 (KIKAWADA Hitoshi). LDP · House of Representatives, Ibaraki 3 (8 terms) · b. 1959, Mitaka
A former National Police Agency officer, which makes the public-safety chair a natural fit. Lower House Judicial Affairs Committee chair (2018), Vice-Minister for Agriculture (2020), and Justice Minister in the second Kishida reshuffle (August 2022) until his resignation that November over remarks about the death penalty. Rehabilitated through the LDP's public-safety, terrorism and cyber-crime commission, which he has chaired since 2025.
NAKATSUKA Hiroshi (中司 宏), Minister for Administrative Reform, Children’s Policy and Regulatory Reform
Minister for Administrative Reform and the civil-service system; Children's Policy; declining birthrate; youth empowerment; Regulatory Reform; coexistence and mutual aid
行政改革担当／国家公務員制度担当／内閣府特命担当大臣（こども政策、少子化対策、若者活躍、規制改革、共生・共助）
New, first cabinet post; Nippon Ishin's first cabinet seat in the Takaichi government. Takes children's, birthrate, youth and coexistence policy from 黄川田 仁志 (KIKAWADA Hitoshi), regulatory reform from 城内 実 (KIUCHI Minoru), and administrative reform from 松本 尚 (MATSUMOTO Hisashi). Nippon Ishin no Kai · House of Representatives, Osaka 11 (3 terms) · b. 1956, Hirakata
A former Sankei Shimbun political reporter who spent decades in Osaka local government: prefectural assemblyman, then four terms as Mayor of Hirakata. Elected to the Diet in 2021 and former secretary-general of Nippon Ishin no Kai. The regulatory-reform and administrative-reform briefs are the party's signature themes, and his appointment ends the LDP-only composition of the previous two Takaichi cabinets.
NAKANISHI Yusuke (中西 祐介), Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary (political, House of Councillors)
内閣官房副長官（政務・参議院）
New. Replaces 佐藤 啓 (SATO Kei). LDP · House of Councillors, Tokushima-Kochi (3 terms) · b. 1979, Anan
A Keio law graduate first elected in 2010. Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Finance (2015), Vice-Minister for Internal Affairs (Kishida), and chair in turn of the Upper House Finance, Education and Budget committees; LDP PRC deputy chair for the Upper House. The Kantei's link to the Upper House caucus.
The new Prime Minister’s advisors
Three of the five advisor posts changed hands.
WAKAMIYA Kenji (若宮 健嗣), PM Special Advisor for National Security
PM special advisor: national security policy; nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation
内閣総理大臣補佐官（国家安全保障に関する重要政策及び核軍縮・不拡散問題担当）
New. Replaces 尾上 定正 (OUE Sadamasa), a retired Air Self-Defense Force general appointed from outside politics. LDP · House of Representatives, Tokyo 5 (6 terms) · b. 1961, Tokyo
Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs (fourth Abe cabinet), LDP National Defense Division chair, Lower House Security Committee chair, and Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Cool Japan and IP with the digital garden-city brief under Kishida (2021–22). Since then LDP deputy secretary-general, treasurer, PRC deputy chair, and advisor to the Defense Minister. Moving this seat from a uniformed expert to a senior party figure puts a political operator on the National Security Council file.
SASAKI Hajime (佐々木 紀), PM Special Advisor for Regional Future Strategy
PM special advisor: regional future strategy
内閣総理大臣補佐官（地域未来戦略担当）
New. Replaces 井上 貴博 (INOUE Takahiro). LDP · House of Representatives, Ishikawa 2
A Lower House member since 2012 and most recently Vice-Minister for Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, from Ishikawa, the prefecture hit by the 2024 Noto earthquake. The regional-future brief pairs with 藤井 比早之 (FUJII Hisayuki)'s identical ministerial brief at MIC.
MATSUMOTO Hisashi (松本 尚), PM Special Advisor for Price Relief, Fiscal Policy and Digital Policy
PM special advisor: price-relief measures; "responsible active fiscal policy"; digital policy
内閣総理大臣補佐官（物価高対策・責任ある積極財政・デジタル政策担当）
New brief, moved from cabinet. Takes the advisor seat vacated by 松島 みどり (MATSUSHIMA Midori), whose foreign-nationals policy brief was dropped. LDP · House of Representatives, Chiba 13 (3 terms) · b. 1962, Kanazawa
An emergency physician, professor of emergency medicine at Nippon Medical School and head of the Chiba Hokuso critical-care centre before politics; Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Defense (Kishida cabinet) and then Foreign Affairs under Ishiba; Digital Minister with the cyber-security, administrative-reform and civil-service briefs in both prior Takaichi cabinets. He leaves the cabinet for a new Kantei post built around the Prime Minister's own fiscal doctrine (責任ある積極財政) and price relief, keeping a hand on digital policy from inside the Kantei.
What comes next
With Takaichi’s term as LDP president ending in September 2027, unless there is a major political impetus to shake up the system, this is the Cabinet that will last for the next year. For a review of those who have remained in their roles post-reshuffle, see our initial breakdown of Takaichi’s Cabinet members.
Portraits: Prime Minister’s Office of Japan (首相官邸).
Frequently asked questions
- When was the 2026 Takaichi cabinet reshuffle?
- Prime Minister Takaichi reshuffled her cabinet on 17 September 2026, forming the Second Takaichi Reshuffled Cabinet (第二次高市改造内閣). It brought in eleven new cabinet-level appointees and three new Prime Minister's advisors, while the core economic, fiscal and defense ministers stayed in place.
- Is Nippon Ishin no Kai in the Takaichi cabinet?
- Yes. NAKATSUKA Hiroshi (中司 宏) became Minister for Administrative Reform, Children's Policy and Regulatory Reform, among other briefs. It is Nippon Ishin's first cabinet seat in the Takaichi government, and it ends the LDP-only composition of the previous two Takaichi cabinets.
- Who is Japan's new Digital Minister?
- FURUKAWA Toshiharu (古川 俊治), an Upper House member from Saitama who is a surgeon, a lawyer and an MBA. He replaces MATSUMOTO Hisashi, and his brief consolidates science and technology, space, AI, intellectual property and ocean policy with the Digital Agency and cyber security.
- How long will the new Takaichi cabinet last?
- Takaichi's term as LDP president ends in September 2027. Unless there is a major political impetus to shake up the system, this is the cabinet that will govern for the next year.