The new cabinet of Japan taking photo in Japanese Palace, September 16.

Japan's new government boasts a record number of women, including two cabinet ministers, slightly shifting the gender¹ balance in a country with historically low female representation in politics.

The election victory of the centre-left Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) altered the demographic map of the lower house, with 54 women winning seats in the 480-member chamber², up from 43 after the last election.

One of them, Keiko Chiba, 61, is the new justice minister, who opposes the death penalty and wants to encourage national debate on ending capital punishment.

The other female minister, with the portfolio³ of consumer affairs, population and gender equality, is Mizuho Fukushima, 53, a former human rights lawyer and leader of junior coalition⁴ partner the Social Democratic Party.

One of her major tasks will be to encourage family-friendly policies to boost Japan's low birth rate. The country faces a demographic time bomb, with a fast-greying population set to start shrinking soon.

Other new female faces entered the lower house as part of what the media had dubbed⁵ the DPJ's "Princess Corps⁶", so-called female assassins who targeted conservative party veterans in their home districts.

Dozens of them beat their grey-suited rivals, with many first-termers now called "Ozawa girls" as they came to power under the guidance of DPJ heavyweight and campaign commander Ichiro Ozawa.

Not all the women who broke the political glass ceiling had an easy start.

Gossip magazines have dug up the past of one female first-termer, Mieko Tanaka, 33, a former travel agency employee who was forced to admit she used to work as a reporter for a sex industry magazine.

The new female lawmakers now account for 11.3 percent of members in the Diet's lower house, up from 9.2 before the poll.

But Japan still has some way to go. After the August 30 election, the Inter-Parliamentary Union pointed⁷ out that Japan had the developed world's lowest level of female representation in politics.

日本新一届政府迎来了史上数量最多的女性成员，其中包括两名内阁大臣。这一改变可稍微平衡一下日本政界的性别比例，日本历史上很少有女性参政。

日本左倾政党民主党赢得大选胜利改变了日本众议院的男女比例。在众议院的480名议员中，女性议员从上届选举后的43名增至目前的54名。

其中一名女议员，61岁的千叶惠子为日本新任法务大臣，她反对死刑，并希望在取消极刑的问题上鼓励进行全国范围的讨论。

另一位女性大臣是负责消费者事务、人口和性别平等的福岛瑞穂。她今年53岁，曾做过人权律师，是执政联盟中的小党社会民主党的领袖。

福岛的主要任务之一将是鼓励“家庭友好”政策，提高日本的出生率。人口问题是日本的一颗“定时炸弹”，人口的迅速老龄化会使其人口很快开始减少。

其他进入众议院的女性新成员被媒体戏称为日本民主党的“公主军团”，她们号称“美女刺客”，专门“对付”各自家乡选区的老牌保守党议员。

她们中有不少人打败了男性对手，很多首次就任的女议员被称为“小泽的姑娘”，因为她们是在民主党重量级人物、竞选总指挥小泽一郎的带领下赢得选举的。

但不是所有打破政治“玻璃天花板”的女议员们都有一个顺利的开始。

近日一些八卦杂志挖出了首次出任议员的33岁的田中美惠子的历史。田中美惠子曾是一家旅行社的雇员，日前她被迫承认自己曾在一家色情行业杂志做过记者。

这些新上任的女议员占日本议会众议院议员总数的11.3%，较此前的9.2%有所上升。

但日本仍需努力。在8月30日的大选后，国际议会联盟指出日本女性参政的比例为发达国家最低。

Vocabulary:

boast: to possess (something to be proud of) 以有……而自豪；拥有，包含

demographic: of or relating to demography 人口统计的

capital punishment: the punishment of death for committing a serious crime 极刑，死刑

portfolio: the area of responsibility of the head of a government department 部长或大臣的职责范围

fast-greying:快速老龄化的

glass ceiling: an unacknowledged discriminatory barrier that prevents women and minorities from rising to positions of power or responsibility, as within a corporation 玻璃天花板（通常专指女性在工作中升级时所遇到的一种无形的障碍，使其不能到达较高层级）

Diet: a national or local legislative assembly in certain countries, such as Japan （丹麦、日本等的）国会