Tokyo, Oct. 14 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s delayed response to the controversy surrounding agriculture minister Kazuo Yana, who quit Wednesday, is all but certain to deal a blow to her administration. Takaichi was effectively forced to dismiss the minister, whom she appointed in a cabinet reshuffle last month, as opposition parties were preparing to submit a censure motion against him. It was the first scandal-related resignation by a cabinet minister since the prime minister took office in October 2025. “I received (Yana’s) offer to resign as minister and decided to accept it,” an exhausted Takaichi told reporters Wednesday night, after meeting with him at the prime minister’s office earlier in the day. The controversy began with reports late last month of Yana’s remarks that road budgets were cut for municipalities whose mayors did not support him in the House of Representatives election in February. Takaichi initially stood by Yana, encouraging him to make up for the verbal blunder with hard work. Takaichi had insisted on appointing Yana, whom she once called “my dear Yana-chan,” to a cabinet post despite concerns among some members of her ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Such anxieties stemmed from Yana’s involvement in a high-profile “slush funds” scandal at LDP factions, in which he had failed to report 17.46 million yen in political funds. “(The prime minister) made the appointment despite calls for caution,” a middle-ranking LDP member said. “She apparently feared that dismissing him would directly lead to a drop in her cabinet’s approval rating.” But the pressure on Yana mounted rapidly, with the Bunshun Online news website reporting Oct. 7 that Yana’s camp, during the campaign period for the Feb. 8 Lower House poll, had provided free shuttle bus transportation to supporters, potentially violating the public offices election law. On Wednesday, Bunshun Online reported that his camp paid campaign workers during the October 2024 Lower House election, also in possible violation of the election law. The revelations prompted a rapid shift in sentiment among LDP members. “If there was anything illegal, we can’t continue to defend him,” a party source said. Opposition parties, which had initially taken a wait-and-see approach, stepped up their offensive against Yana in light of growing public criticism. In the Senate, the upper parliamentary chamber where the LDP-led ruling bloc lacks a majority, 10 opposition parties and groups agreed Wednesday to submit a censure motion against Yana if he did not step down. Kazuhiko Aoki, the LDP’s secretary-general in the Senate, asked an independent member in the upper chamber over the phone to vote against the motion. The lawmaker refused, however. The censure motion, if submitted, would almost certainly have delayed the start of deliberations at the Upper House Budget Committee on Friday. It also would likely have delayed debates on a bill to cut the consumption tax rate for food, seen starting on Tuesday. If the motion had been passed, the effects could have lingered throughout the ongoing extraordinary parliamentary session. “We aren’t in a situation in which we can begin deliberations on the consumption tax cut bill,” Motohisa Furukawa, parliamentary affairs chief of the opposition Democratic Party for the People, had said at a press conference, making it certain that the controversy would affect the top priority legislation for the Takaichi administration. Dissatisfaction with Takaichi’s delayed response had been strong within the ruling camp. A middle-ranking LDP member told Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara last week that the administration would not suffer a major blow if Yana resigned. Kihara, however, replied that the government wanted to wait and see a little longer. Yoshihide Suga, who served as chief cabinet secretary under the administration of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, would have ditched him “at the outset,” a senior member of the Japan Innovation Party, the coalition partner of the LDP, said. Among other members of the Takaichi cabinet, education minister Yoshihiro Seki was found to have held a political fundraising party at a Lower House members’ office building in violation of the chamber’s internal rules. “The next target is Seki,” a source from the opposition Komeito said. Opposition forces, emboldened by developments regarding Yana and Seki, are expected to step up pressure on Takaichi at parliament, arguing that the prime minister cannot escape responsibility for her ministerial appointments. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
