The sense of stability that former Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Katsunobu Kato evokes appears to have been the decisive factor in new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's decision to appoint him as his successor as chief cabinet secretary.
Suga has held Kato in high regard as a steady presence since the time that Kato worked under him as deputy chief cabinet secretary.
"I'm counting on you," Suga told Kato during a meeting at a Tokyo hotel on Tuesday night, during which he brought up the subject of the appointment.
"If I am the one you want, I will be honored to take the position," Kato replied. He later told reporters, "I will do all that is needed to fulfill my duties."
Suga had stressed that he would choose as his successor "a person with collective strengths." Having experience as deputy chief cabinet secretary, who plays a coordinating role between the Cabinet and the ruling parties or the Diet, Kato had been regarded as the leading candidate for the chief post from the beginning.
Kato assumed the deputy post in 2012 in line with the start of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's second Cabinet, when he was elected to the Diet for a fourth time. Over a span of about two years and 10 months, Kato contributed to solidifying the foundation for the Abe administration's longtime rule while supporting Abe and Suga.
After serving in that position, Kato assumed a series of posts: health minister, the state minister in charge of promoting dynamic engagement of all citizens, and the LDP's General Council chairman -- one of the three key posts within the party. That led to his name being raised as a "post-Abe" candidate.
"He is extremely steady and, as a former bureaucrat, knows fully well the characteristics and workings of Kasumigaseki (bureaucracy)," Hiroshige Seko, secretary general for the LDP in the House of Councillors who had served as a deputy chief cabinet secretary at the same time as Kato, said of the new chief cabinet secretary.
Suga, who has put priority on continuing the policies of the Abe administration, apparently placed importance on the closeness between Abe and Kato in making his decision.
However, Kato has drawn criticism for his handling of the novel coronavirus as health minister, with some saying, "Far from taking control of the health ministry, he was the bureaucrats' puppet," according to officials close to Abe.
As Suga has expressed an intention to carry out administrative and regulatory reforms, Kato's skills will be put to the test.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
