Takaichi Announces Agriculture Minister’s Resignation
Overview
Prime Minister Takaichi accepted Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Kazuo Yanagi’s offer to resign and said she intended to announce a successor tomorrow. Yanagi said he wanted to avoid disrupting Diet deliberations and prevent a situation in which he could not focus on agricultural administration. Takaichi said she accepted the resignation because important issues required attention and that she took her appointment responsibility seriously. She said she had not urged him to submit a resignation letter and, had he not submitted one, she planned to hear his explanation of newly reported information. She had not decided what judgment to make based on that explanation.
Key points
- Prime Minister Takaichi accepted Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Kazuo Yanagi’s offer to resign.
- Takaichi said she took her appointment responsibility seriously in light of Yanagi’s resignation.
- She indicated that she would announce the next agriculture minister tomorrow.
Overview
Yanagi offered to resign to avoid further disrupting Diet deliberations and to prevent a situation in which he could not focus on agricultural administration. Takaichi also said it was unacceptable for the situation to continue in a way that kept him from focusing on Diet deliberations or that administration.
As reasons for accepting the resignation, Takaichi cited responses to important issues, including the “Consumption Tax and Support Payment Bill,” the situation in the Middle East, and budget preparation to realize “responsible proactive fiscal policy.”
Details
Takaichi explained that she had not urged Yanagi to submit a resignation letter and had not discussed resignation during their phone call the previous night. They had arranged to meet in the evening so she could hear his explanation, but Yanagi submitted his resignation letter that evening, so she accepted it. Asked about the change occurring less than 1 month after he took office, she replied that she had received the resignation letter.
Had Yanagi not submitted a resignation letter, Takaichi said she planned to hear his explanation regarding newly reported information, but had not decided what judgment to make based on it. The successor was still being arranged at the time of the press conference, and she said approaches would be made from then on.
Takaichi said she did not believe Yanagi’s explanation had given her, or others, a sufficient understanding, and called on him to fulfill his accountability as a member of the Diet. She also said that after Yanagi acknowledged remarks he had made in his local constituency before taking office, she sternly reprimanded him for describing them as “expressions that could cause misunderstanding” and called on him to retract the remarks and apologize.