TOKYO, September 3 (RIA Novosti) - Japan's new Cabinet was officially sworn in by Emperor Akihito during an approval ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Wednesday.
The new ministers received documents confirming their appointments from Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and were officially approved by Emperor Akihito, who serves as the country’s symbolic head of state.
The majority of Japan’s new ministers, five of whom are women, are newly appointed. Six key ministers from the previous Cabinet, including Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, kept their positions.
The previous Cabinet remained in power for 617 days – the longest in the history of Japan since the Second World War. Abe’s current reshuffle is aimed at re-energizing his economic policy as well as his social and political reforms.