Yasuo Fukuda

Japan's beleaguered prime minister has unveiled a new Cabinet intended to turn the tide of his unpopularity and regain the support of voters worried about rising prices and fed up with scandals. But the shake-up produced mostly old-guard faces, and the opposition derided it as merely a cosmetic change and a publicity stunt. Yasuo Fukuda, who has seen his ratings nose-dive in recent months amid accusations of bribery in the bureaucracy and lost pension records, said the new Cabinet would focus on reforms but needed veterans to carry out his policies.

In a vote that heralded a break from the ambitious nationalist policies of Japan's outgoing leader, Yasuo Fukuda was chosen Sunday as head of the governing Liberal Democratic Party. Fukuda's selection virtually ensures that he will be elected prime minister on Tuesday by the lower house of parliament, which his party controls. The party veteran defeated the hawkish former Foreign Minister Taro Aso, 330 votes to 197, in a poll of LDP lawmakers and top regional organizers.

The lower house of Japan's parliament, as expected, chose new ruling party leader Yasuo Fukuda as prime minister today, hours after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Cabinet formally resigned. Abe, 53, announced Sept. 12 that he wanted to quit, and checked into a hospital the next day for stress-related intestinal ailments. He told reporters Monday that his ailing health lay behind his decision to resign, though he did not mention his condition at the time of his announcement.