Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announced a Cabinet reshuffle, preserving most key roles like Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, both her rivals in the October 2025 leadership election for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), The Asahi Shimbun reported on Sept. 17. She also appointed Hiroshi Nakatsuka, the former secretary general of the Japan Innovation Party (JIP), the LDP's coalition partner, as minister in charge of regulatory reform and two LDP lawmakers implicated in a November 2023 slush fund scandal as agriculture and education ministers.