Taro Aso remains in place as deputy PM and finance minister, while Fumio Kishida stays as foreign minister.  Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera will be replaced by Akinori Eto.  The new line-up was announced by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, who also kept his post.

Mr Abe said in a press conference: “Realizing a society where women can shine is a challenge our cabinet has undertaken… I look forward to the wind of change these women will bring.”  He said a “positive economic cycle is kicking off”.

“We’re only halfway through in reforms and we need to deal with new challenges. I reshuffled my cabinet so that we can tackle these challenges boldly and vigorously,” he said, adding that the biggest issue was reviving some regions of Japan. The reshuffle is the first significant rejig since Mr Abe took office in December 2012 after a landslide election win.

Support for his government has since fallen, partly because of the recent rise in consumption tax.  Mr Abe has in the past described women as an “under-used resource” in Japan. Last year he set a goal to increase the percentage of women in leadership positions to 30% by 2020.

Experts also believe that persuading more women to remain in the workforce – either by better accommodating working mothers or by offering better opportunities for promotion in a traditionally male-dominated society – could help ease looming labour shortages caused by Japan’s low birth rate.  In Mr Abe’s previous cabinet, women occupied two of the 18 posts.

Among the new female entrants is Yuko Obuchi, the daughter of former leader Keizo Obuchi, who takes on the economy, trade and industry portfolio, while Midori Matsushima was named justice minister.

What Mr Abe has done is a significant step but the appointments mask a much deeper problem in Japanese society.