Shinzo Abe becomes prime minister; Shiozaki appointed chief cabinet secretary, Foreign Minister Aso remains

Shinzo Abe was elected Japan's youngest postwar prime minister in a parliamentary vote Tuesday. Abe, a 52-year-old conservative hawk who won an overwhelming victory in the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election last week, was voted prime minister in both houses of the Diet. He garnered 339 of the 476 votes cast in the House of Representatives vote, while main opposition Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa took 115 votes.

Later in the afternoon, Abe released the lineup of his 17-member cabinet, appointing economy-savvy Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Yasuhisa Shiozaki as chief cabinet secretary and keeping Foreign Minister Taro Aso.

Shiozaki concurrently serves as minister in charge of the issue of North Korea's abductions of Japanese nationals.

Bunmei Ibuki, who heads a 32-member faction of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, was named education minister, and Jinen Nagase became the new justice minister. Abe also named LDP veteran Koji Omi as finance minister and former LDP General Council chief Fumio Kyuma, as chief of the Defense Agency.

Yuji Yamamoto, Abe's ardent follower in the LDP, took the post of financial services minister, the country's top bank regulator, while LDP veteran Akira Amari became minister of economy, trade and industry.

Tetsuzo Fuyushiba, a heavyweight of the New Komeito party, became minister of land, infrastructure and transport to take the only post given to the LDP's junior partner in the ruling coalition.

Former Cabinet Office bureaucrat Hiroko Ota, one of two women in the new cabinet, was appointed as minister in charge of economic and fiscal policy. The other female cabinet member is Sanae Takaichi, minister in charge of Okinawa and Northern Territories issues.

LDP lawmaker Masatoshi Wakabayashi was appointed environment minister and Toshikatsu Matsuoka was given agriculture, forestry and fisheries, while Hakuo Yanagisawa was appointed health, welfare and labor minister.

Genichiro Sata, a six-term member of the House of Representatives from the Liberal Democratic Party, gained his first cabinet post as state minister in charge of deregulation. Yoshihide Suga was appointed minister of internal affairs and communications.