New vice ministers keep Ozawa near

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda appointed 22 Diet members as senior vice ministers Monday with an eye to bolstering unity in the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and speeding postdisaster reconstruction.

Noda, the DPJ's president, appointed Lower House member Tenzo Okumura, an ally of indicted kingpin Ichiro Ozawa, who did not back Noda in the party election last week, to be senior vice minister of education, culture, sports, science and technology.

Noda tapped Lower House member Ikko Nakatsuka, another Ozawa ally, as senior vice minister of the Cabinet Office, apparently to maintain harmony within the party.

To speed up reconstruction efforts, Noda appointed Lower House member Toru Kikawada, who was elected from Iwate, one of the three prefectures hit hardest by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, as senior vice minister of internal affairs and communications.

Among other DPJ lawmakers picked for key positions were Lower House member Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi and Upper House member Ryuji Yamane, who were both appointed to the post of state secretary for foreign affairs, a title used by the Foreign Ministry for its senior vice minister, and Lower House member Shu Watanabe, who became senior vice defense minister.

Noda, finance minister under the government of his predecessor, Naoto Kan, decided to retain Lower House member Fumihiko Igarashi as a senior vice finance minister to ensure continuity in fiscal policy, since the issue of hiking taxes to fund reconstruction appears likely to emerge. Upper House member Yukihisa Fujita was newly tapped as the other senior vice finance minister.

The Cabinet also appointed 26 lawmakers as parliamentary secretaries, the third-ranking ministerial post.

To move diplomatic policy forward, Noda tapped former Parliamentary Defense Secretary Akihisa Nagashima as his special adviser for foreign and defense matters.

Meanwhile, the DPJ decided Monday to name two former prime ministers, Yukio Hatoyama and Kan, as the ruling party's supreme advisers, party members said.

The move comes in the wake of efforts by the current leadership to boost party unity, which has been torn between the pro- and anti-Ozawa camps.

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