Takeshi Komura, director general of the Finance Ministry's Budget Bureau, was tapped Friday by Finance Minister Hiroshi Mitsuzuka to replace departing Vice Finance Minister Tadashi Ogawa beginning July 15. The post of vice finance minister is considered to be the pinnacle of the nation's bureaucracy.

Takatoshi Kato, vice finance minister for international affairs, will also step down, with his post to be filled by Eisuke Sakakibara, who is currently director general of the International Finance Bureau. Replacing Komura as head of the ministry's budget-compilation bureau is Yoji Wakui, who is now deputy vice minister. Wakui will be replaced by Toshiro Muto, deputy vice minister for policy coordination.

Haruhiko Kuroda, the current head of the ministry's Institute for Fiscal and Monetary Policy, was to become the next director general of the International Finance Bureau. The current directors general of the Banking, Securities, Finance and Taxation bureaus were maintained in consideration of the fact that various law revisions and other steps still need to be implemented for the government's "Big Bang" financial system deregulation.

Takanobu Nakagawa, current director of the Financial Inspection Department, will replace Shunichi Nagata as the ministry's representative on the Bank of Japan's Policy Board. Kazuhiko Takeshima, who had been serving as deputy vice minister at the Economic Planning Agency, will become new head of the National Tax Administration Agency.