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 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.
Yana found himself under fire in parliament over remarks he made to supporters in May about cutting road budgets for two Tochigi Prefecture towns whose mayors didn’t back him in the February Lower House election.
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