Japan's New Defense Chief Takes Office

TOKYO -- Japan's first female defense minister was sworn in Wednesday, pledging to restore trust in the government after her predecessor resigned for suggesting the U.S. atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima were inevitable.

Yuriko Koike took office a day after former Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma apologized for remarks that offended many in a nation that holds the 1945 bombings as a senseless slaughter of civilians. His departure was ill-timed, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe facing parliamentary elections on July 29.

More than 200,000 people died in the combined attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which led Japan to surrender. The United States has argued the bombings were necessary to end World War II without a potentially bloody land invasion.

In a speech Saturday, Kyuma said Japan would have kept fighting and ended up losing a greater part of its northern territory to the Soviet Union, which invaded Manchuria on the day Nagasaki was bombed.

"I understand that the bombings ended the war, and I think that it couldn't be helped," said Kyuma, a native of Nagasaki.

Kyuma is the third minister Abe has had to replace. Two others resigned over money scandals, including one who committed suicide. Another minister was almost forced to resign for calling women "birth-giving machines."

The instability has eroded support for the 10-month-old government, and Koike said she would work to help regain the public's confidence.

"Defense is about crisis management for a nation, a task that cannot afford any interruptions," Koike said ahead of the swearing-in ceremony Wednesday.