Agriculture minister Kazuo Yana announced his resignation Wednesday evening following a series of scandals, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration.?
His sudden exit,?just a month after Takaichi appointed him in a Cabinet reshuffle, leaves the prime minister without a key Cabinet ally. It also comes in the midst of parliamentary debate on key legislative items involving the ministry, including a controversial bill to reduce the food consumption tax from 8% to 1% next April for two years that the government is pushing for but that major opposition parties oppose.?
“I submitted my resignation because I can’t continue to create more trouble with parliamentary deliberations. I also felt that I needed to avoid a situation where I’d no longer be able to concentrate on (my ministerial duties) for agricultural, forestry and fisheries administration,” Yana said Wednesday evening.
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