Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has reshuffled his cabinet, appointing conservative ally Tomomi Inada as defence minister, while leaving most top posts unchanged. Inada was previously the ruling party's policy chief. She shares Abe's goal of revising the post-war, pacifist constitution, which some conservatives consider a humiliating symbol of Japan's World War Two defeat.

She also regularly visits Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine for war dead, which China and South Korea see as a symbol of Japan's past militarism. Besides Inada, other new picks include Hiroshige Seko for economy, trade and industry minister, and previous environment minister Tamayo Marukawa as the minister in charge of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.