Japan PM Kishida to replace embattled reconstruction minister Akiba – NHK

By Sakura Murakami

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is battling low approval ratings, will replace a government minister for the fourth time since he created his current cabinet in August, public broadcaster NHK reported on Monday.

Discussions on a replacement for Kenya Akiba, minister responsible for overseeing the reconstruction of areas hit by Japan’s massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011, are still underway, the broadcaster said.

NHK initially reported that Akiba will be replaced by former financial services agency minister Tatsuya Ito, but later corrected that report to say a successor has not been picked.

Akiba has battled accusations of being involved in violating election laws as well as having ties with the Unification Church. His office said it had nothing to say on the matter when contacted for comment on the allegations.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s close links with the religious group, which critics say is a cult, were revealed after the killing of former premier Shinzo Abe and have been cited by survey respondents as one reason for Kishida’s low approval ratings.

The Kyodo news agency reported on Friday that Kishida has been considering swapping some of his ministers in a bid to boost his approval ratings.

“All I can say is that we must make the necessary preparations for next year’s diet (parliament) session. That’s all I can say,” Kishida said on Monday when asked whether he planned to replace Akiba.

Kishida also plans to replace Mio Sugita, his Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Internal Affairs, Kyodo reported on Monday citing multiple unidentified government sources.

In early December, Sugita retracted and apologised for a number of past comments she had made previously, including calling sexual minorities “unproductive”.

(Reporting by Sakura Murakami and Rocky Swift; Editing by Shri Navaratnam, Kenneth Maxwell, Alexandra Hudson)