Japan's PM picks hawkish defence minister in limited reshuffle

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appointed conservative ally Tomomi Inada as defence minister on Wednesday, which risked upsetting China and South Korea, as part of a limited cabinet reshuffle that left most top posts unchanged.

Inada, previously the ruling party policy chief, shares Abe's goal of revising the post-war, pacifist constitution, which some conservatives consider a humiliating symbol of Japan's World War Two defeat.

She also regularly visits Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine for war dead, which China and South Korea see as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.

Japan's relations with Beijing and Seoul have often been frayed by the legacy of Japan's military aggression before and during World War Two.

"Ms Inada is an ultra-conservative politician and this will be taken as preparation for achieving constitutional revision and adopting a stern stance towards China," said Takashi Kawakami, a security expert at Takushoku University.

Inada, a 57-year-old lawyer, will be the second woman to hold the defence post. The first, Yuriko Koike, who held the job briefly in 2007, was recently elected Tokyo governor.

Abe is trying to rekindle economic growth and cope with several diplomatic challenges as he ponders the possibility of staying in office after his term as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) ends in 2018.

He is expected to travel to China in September for a Group of 20 summit, where he may meet Chinese President Xi Jinping.