ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)<br/> <br />STORY: Japan's latest Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed on Wednesday to embark on a diplomatic style which looks out for Japanese interests and committed to reviving the economy.<br/> <br />He stressed the importance of rebuilding Japan-U.S. relations as the first step on the road to recovering lost ground in diplomacy.<br/> <br />A hawk on security matters, Abe, 58, has promised aggressive monetary easing by the Bank of Japan and big fiscal spending by the debt-laden government to slay deflation and weaken the yen to make Japanese exports more competitive.<br/> <br />The grandson of a former prime minister, Abe has staged a stunning comeback five years after abruptly resigning as premier in the wake of a one-year term troubled partly by scandals in his cabinet and public outrage over lost pension records.<br/> <br />Abe's long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) surged back to power in this month's election, three years after a crushing defeat at the hands of the novice Democratic Party of Japan.<br/> <br />Abe appointed a cabinet of close allies who share his conservative views in key posts, but leavened the line-up with LDP rivals to provide ballast and fend off criticism of cronyism that dogged his first administration.<br/> <br />Former prime minister Taro Aso, 72, was named finance minister and also received the financial services portfolio.<br/> <br />Ex-trade and industry minister Akira Amari became minister for economic revival, heading a new panel tasked with coming up with growth strategies such as deregulation.<br/> <br />Policy veteran Toshimitsu Motegi, as trade minister, will be tasked with formulating energy policy in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year.<br/> <br />Loyal Abe backer Yoshihide Suga was appointed chief cabinet secretary, a key post combining the job of top government spokesman with responsibility for co-ordinating among ministries.<br/> <br />Others who share Abe's agenda to revise the pacifist constitution and rewrite Japan's wartime history with a less apologetic tone were also given posts, including conservative lawmaker Hakubun Shimomura as education minister.<br/> <br />Fiscal hawk Sadakazu Tanigaki, whom Abe replaced as LDP leader in September, became justice minister while two rivals who ran unsuccessfully in that party race -- Yoshimasa Hayashi and Nobuteru Ishihara -- got the agriculture and environment-nuclear crisis portfolios respectively.<br/> <br />The yen has weakened about 9.8 percent against the dollar since Abe was elected LDP leader in September. On Wednesday, it hit a 20-month low of 85.38 yen against the greenback on expectations of aggressive monetary policy easing.
