Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is likely to reshuffle her Cabinet and the executive lineup of her ruling Liberal Democratic Party, possibly in the latter half of September, sources close to the matter said Friday.
The timing of the reshuffle would be finalized based on the date of an extraordinary parliamentary session expected in the fall and her planned visit to New York for this year's high-level sessions of the U.N. General Assembly, according to the sources.
Attention will focus on whether LDP Secretary General Shunichi Suzuki, a brother-in-law of former Prime Minister Taro Aso, retains his post, while Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara is likely to be retained as the top government spokesman, the sources said.
Takaichi is also planning to invite a member of the Japan Innovation Party, the LDP's junior coalition partner, to join the Cabinet, the sources said.
It would be the first major overhaul of the LDP leadership and the Cabinet since Takaichi became the party's chief and was elected prime minister by parliament last October.
It remains unclear how Takaichi will handle her rivals in last year's LDP presidential race -- Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, chief LDP policymaker Takayuki Kobayashi and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi.
