Lower House member Hosei Norota, 69, was appointed as the Defense Agency's new director general by Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi on Friday as a mass personnel reshuffle continued in the wake of scandals involving procurement overcharging and subsequent coverups.
Norota, a former minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, is to fill the shoes of former Defense Agency chief Fukushiro Nukaga, who tendered his resignation to the prime minister earlier in the day to take responsibility for the scandal.
Accompanied by Obuchi, Norota visited the Emperor at the Imperial Palace at 7 p.m. to take part in formalities during which the appointment was approved by the nation's symbolic leader.