Tokyo ? Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda’s new cabinet took office Saturday following a shake-up aimed at turning the tide of his unpopularity and regaining the support of voters worried about rising prices and fed up with scandals.

But Friday’s reshuffle produced mostly old-guard faces, and the opposition derided it as merely a cosmetic change and a publicity stunt.

Fukuda, who has seen his support ratings nose-dive in recent months amid accusations of bribery in the bureaucracy and lost pension records, said the new Cabinet would focus on reforms, but needed veterans to carry out his policies.

Members of the new Cabinet were officially sworn in Saturday morning with a ceremony before Emperor Akihito, ahead of their first Cabinet meeting later in the day.