Japan’s prime minister apologises as ministers quit

Both the trade and justice ministers were among five women Prime Minister Shinzo Abe named to his cabinet in a reshuffle early last month.

TOKYO // Japan’s trade and justice ministers resigned on Monday after accusations they misused campaign funds in the biggest setback so far for prime minister Shinzo Abe’s conservative administration.

The two ministers were among five women Mr Abe named to his cabinet in a reshuffle early last month. Their resignations may help to control the damage to his relatively high popularity ratings, but are a blow to efforts to promote women in politics and business as part of economic revival policies.

Yuko Obuchi, daughter of a former prime minister and a rising star in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, resigned as trade minister, saying she needed to focus on an investigation into discrepancies in accounting for election funds. She did not acknowledge any wrongdoing.

The justice minister Midori Matsushima resigned after the opposition Democratic Party of Japan filed a criminal complaint against her over distribution of hand-held fans, or “uchiwa”.

Ms Matsushima is also facing complaints over using parliament-provided housing while keeping security guards at her private residence in downtown Tokyo.

Speaking shortly after he accepted Ms Matsushima’s resignation, Mr Abe said he also was responsible because he appointed the two women.

“I deeply apologise to the public,” Mr Abe said.

Political funding scandals are a chronic problem and top factor behind the revolving-door politics of recent decades.

“These rules are in place precisely because vote-buying using gifts used to be very common in Japan and still is according to some accounts in the rural areas,” said Koichi Nakano, a politics professor at Tokyo’s Sophia University.

The types of gifts and sums of money at the centre of the latest allegations are relatively trivial compared with the record of previous governments. But the rules are well-known, and possible violations by a minister of justice did not set well, Mr Nakano said.

Two other female cabinet members known as Mr Abe’s close allies on the right have been criticised for suspected ties with racist groups. Such scandals have marred his efforts to encourage Japan to accept more women in leadership positions.

* Associated Press