He's young, good-looking and the media call him "Japan's Macron," so it is little surprise that lawmakers say Shinjiro Koizumi may be offered a post when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reshuffles his Cabinet next month in a bid to revive his public support, which is now sagging.
Abe wants to repair his popularity, battered by a scandal over suspected favoritism for a friend's business and by many voters' perceptions that he takes them for granted after more than four years in office.
Shinjiro Koizumi, the 36-year-old bachelor son of charismatic former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, has been suggested as a future leader since being elected in a 2009 Lower House election that temporarily ousted his Liberal Democratic Party.
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