Former Defense Minister Yuriko Koike, who ahead of Monday’s Cabinet reshuffle announced on Saturday her intention to resign, talked about her two months in Abe’s Cabinet, ironically, for the first time appearing at a conference since her inauguration, the Asahi Shimbun reports.

Yuriko Koike was the first woman to be appointed the top position at the Defense Ministry/Agency ever, and was widely expected to retain her seat in the scheduled reshuffle, that is, until she tried to replace her Vice Minister, Takemasa Moriya, with former National Police Agency chief, Tetsuya Nishikawa.

Moriya, who had been a top bureaucrat at the ministry/agency for 4 years, earning him the nickname “The Emperor of the Defense Ministry,” screamed bloody murder and lambasted Koike for not having informed him in time. Additionally, he was not too fond of having an outsider come take such an important spot, and instead recommend Shinshiro Yamazaki to succeed him.

The row came to and end when the government decided to replace Moriya with Kohei Masuda, formerly head of the personnel and education bureau, but Koike’s image was already tarnished.

The ex-minister said her inauguration had been “a childhood dream coming true,” and said that of the two months she were in office, there had been so much happening it felt like it had been two years, as tears built up in her eyes.

Of her succeedor, Masahiko Komura, Koike said “He is a very influential person within our party, and he has the competence to make sure the renewal the anti-terror law is carried out within time.“

Koike, who is fluent in English as well as Arabic, finished her press conference with the English phrase “I shall return,” hinting this is not the last time we will see her in the limelight.

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