Former Wrestler Appointed Japan's New Education Minister

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appointed October 7 a former member of Japan's wrestling team to the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles  Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Mr. Hiroshi Hase, 54, is the first Olympic athlete to head the ministry.

PM Abe's message is clear enough with the Tokyo Olympics/ Paralympics five years away. Earlier on October 1, another Olympic athlete, Daichi Suzuki, was picked to head the ministry's external bureau, Sports Agency, as part of Abe's design to make a huge success of the upcoming Olympic games in 2020.

Hiroshi Hase started his political career as he was elected into the House of Councillors and appointed senior vice minister of the ministry he now heads as the minister. In 2001, he was re-elected by his constituency in Ishikawa.

Incidentally, Hiroshi Hase is no ordinary wrestler-turned politician. He has 16 books to his credit covering a wide range of interests. A few on his career as a wrestler aside, he wrote, for instance, one titled "Every child has a beautiful name" in which he expounds his concept of childrearing. He meant it to be a bridge over the river with parents and their children on either side. The books stressed how essential it is for both sides to understand they share equal amounts of love and affection.

Another testimony of his rareness being a wrester-politician is his analysis of the "Tale of Genji" which he terms a "monumental book of eternal love". Call him, if you will,  a rare personality of extraordinary versatility. Abe's newly reshuffled cabinet abounds in human resources.

PM Shinzo Abe retained nine members of his previous Cabinet and appointed nine first-time ministers.

The third Abe Cabinet was officially launched on the evening of the same day following attestation ceremony at the Imperial Palace.