Japan's leader revamps cabinet

TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Friday appointed former finance minister Kaoru Yosano in charge of economic and fiscal policy and Yukio Edano, who served as the acting secretary-general of the governing party, to replace Yoshito Sengoku as the chief cabinet secretary.

The cabinet revamp is aimed at coping with a divided parliament and tackling reforms to rein in public debt. But obstacles to success are significant, since the regular parliament session is ahead. And the prime minister is facing the miserable task of getting opposition parties to sign on his record fiscal 2011 budget and other key bills.

Yosano, the new fiscal policy minister, is an advocate of rebuilding Japan's debt-ridden finances by raising the 5 percent sales tax, an idea shared with Prime Minister Kan. The appointment signals Kan is serious about reforms needed to fund bulging social welfare costs and rein in the huge public debt, as well as about trade liberalization sought by business but opposed by farm lobbies.