Japan PM seeks ratings boost with veteran cabinet

By Linda Sieg

TOKYO (Reuters) - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe picked familiar faces for key posts in a sweeping reshuffle of his cabinet on Monday, but analysts doubted whether the changes would do much to revive the Japanese leader's badly sagging popularity.

Handing heavyweight portfolios to veteran lawmakers will likely dampen criticism of Abe within his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), but the choices will do little to reassure those seeking signs that he will forcefully tackle Japan's huge debt and deregulate the economy, analysts said.

"Is there anything here that can inspire the people, foreign investors or the business leadership? It doesn't really look that way," said Jesper Koll, president of investment advisory firm Tantallon Research Japan, as Abe replaced almost three-quarters of his cabinet ministers.

"It's playing it safe, but it's playing the same song again."

Abe's public support, hit hard by scandals and gaffes among his former cabinet, has plummeted since he took office a year ago -- leading to a stinging loss for the ruling coalition in an upper house election last month. Critics had charged his first cabinet was packed with cronies lacking experience.

This time, Abe cast his net more widely in what he termed an effort to restore public confidence and convince voters who have suffered from painful reforms that their voices had been heard.

"We have a responsibility to future generations, and to fulfill that, I am resolved to proceed with reform even when it is difficult," Abe told a news conference.

"But we must also send the message to people who are feeling pain from reform, that we understand and are trying to respond."

Kaoru Yosano, 69, a former economics and trade minister who favors central bank independence, took over the vital post of chief cabinet secretary, fanning expectations that the government will not try to prevent the Bank of Japan from raising interest rates.

Abe selected former defense minister Fukushiro Nukaga, 63, as finance minister. Once seen as a contender to become premier, Nukaga has resigned twice from Japanese cabinets in the past after being caught up in scandals.

BACK TO THE FUTURE

Five ministers, including Economics Minister Hiroko Ota and Trade Minister Akira Amari, stayed in Abe's cabinet, while four others returned from earlier administrations.

Abe's new cabinet will face a tough battle to pass laws, including a bill to extend a navy mission in support of U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan, since opposition parties won control of parliament's upper house in the July 29 election.

Leading the government push on the legislation will be new Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura, a former foreign and education minister who heads the LDP's biggest faction and shares Abe's goals of winning Japan a bigger say in global affairs.

Abe tapped Yoichi Masuzoe, who openly criticized him for refusing to step down after the upper house election defeat, to be Minister for Health, Labor and Welfare.