¡¡¡¡by Sun Xiaozheng

¡¡¡¡TOKYO, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda replaced five cabinet ministers on Monday in a move to win support from the opposition for his tax raise bill.

¡¡¡¡"The reshuffle aims to strengthen the Cabinet's function and create an environment to move forward various issues such as the tax and social security reforms," Noda told a news conference.

¡¡¡¡Noda is aiming to increase Japan's current 5 percent sales tax rate in two stages, to 8 percent in April 2014 and to 10 percent in October 2015, to rein in the public debt of the country.

¡¡¡¡"I cannot allow this bill to be defeated," Noda said.

¡¡¡¡The minor Cabinet reshuffle comes a day after Noda failed to win over former Democratic Party of Japan's leader Ichiro Ozawa, who said economic growth should come before a tax hike, and told reporters that he was "opposed to" Noda's signature policy goal.

¡¡¡¡By removing the ministers, who are under fire from the opposition party, Noda hopes to persuade the Liberal Democratic Party to negotiate over the tax bills.

¡¡¡¡Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka and Transport Minister Takeshi Maeda, who were both censured in April by the opposition-dominated upper house of parliament,were replaced by Satoshi Morimoto, a 71- year-old professor at Takushoku University, and Yuichiro Hata, the Democratic Party of Japan's Diet affairs chief in the upper house, respectively.

¡¡¡¡Morimoto became the country's first nonparliamentarian defense chief since World War II.

¡¡¡¡Noda said Morimoto was a "leading figure in the field of security." Morimoto entered the Foreign Ministry in 1979 after serving as a member of the Air Self-Defense Force and became adviser to the defense minister in 2009.

¡¡¡¡Senior Vice Justice Minister Makoto Taki was named to replace Justice Minister Toshio Ogawa.

¡¡¡¡Senior vice Reconstruction Minister Tadahiro Matsushita of the coalition partner People's New Party became financial services minister to replace Shozaburo Jimi.

¡¡¡¡Michihiko Kano, minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries was succeeded by Akira Gunji, a former senior vice farm minister.

¡¡¡¡The opposition however reacted calmly to the cabinet reshuffle.

¡¡¡¡"It is late to reshuffle the Cabinet at this time and we will grill (Noda) on whether he had appointed the right persons for the right jobs," Kyodo News quoted LDP Secretary General Nobuteru Ishihara as saying.

¡¡¡¡The reshuffled Cabinet will be formally inaugurated later in the day with an attestation ceremony at the Imperial Palace. The new Cabinet will hold its first official meeting in the evening.

¡¡¡¡Related:

¡¡¡¡Japanese PM announces new Cabinet lineup

¡¡¡¡TOKYO, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Monday announced his second cabinet reshuffle replacing five ministers out of 18, in a move to win support from the opposition parties for his tax raise bill.

¡¡¡¡Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka and Transport Minister Takeshi Maeda, who were both censured in April by the opposition-dominated upper house of parliament, were replaced by Satoshi Morimoto, a 71- year-old professor at Takushoku University, and Yuichiro Hata, the Democratic Party of Japan's Diet affairs chief in the upper house, respectively. Full story