Japan's new PM faces setback as transport minister resigns

Photo: AFP

TOKYO, (AFP) - Japan's new Prime Minister Taro Aso on Sunday faced his first political setback just days after taking office as his transport minister was forced to resign over a series of embarrassing gaffes.

The resignation was a serious blow to the outspoken, flamboyant Aso, who had been expected to call a snap election -- perhaps as early as this week -- to capitalise on his government's honeymoon period.



Instead, his administration has fared poorly in initial public opinion polls after taking the reins on Wednesday, and observers said the resignation of Transport Minister Nariaki Nakayama would only make things worse.

Nakayama made a series of blunders last week in his very first interview, one of which was saying that Japan was "homogenous" -- a remark which raised the hackles of the country's indigenous Ainu people.

He also said schools with unionised teachers had lower standards, and accused farmers fighting for land seized for airport construction of "making profits by whining."

"I just submitted a letter of resignation to the prime minister," Nakayama told a hastily arranged press conference after an early morning meeting with Aso. "It was accepted, therefore I have resigned from the post."

"If my remarks have made any impact on parliamentary proceedings, it would not be what I had intended," he said.

Aso's government is expecting some tough battles in parliament, with the opposition in control of the upper house and piling the pressure on Aso to put his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on the line by calling early elections.

Opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa said Nakayama's resignation was "no surprise," telling reporters: "I believe the prime minister bears significant responsibility."

Aso, a conservative who has vowed new budget measures to revive the world's second largest economy, took office on Wednesday, replacing the unpopular Yasuo Fukuda, who resigned early this month.

Top government spokesman Takeo Kawamura admitted Nakayama's resignation had caused "damage" to Aso's administration.

"The resignation was inevitable due to the remarks and the development of the situation," Kawamura told reporters.

"The Aso cabinet will just have to do the best to regain public confidence by showing good work."

Nakayama is a staunch conservative who headed a group which denied that Japanese troops massacred tens of thousands of people in the Chinese city of Nanjing in 1937.

"He is extremely ignorant," said Tokuhei Akibe, vice director general of an Ainu group, quoted by Jiji Press.

"He is so appalling and makes me speechless. I guess it wasn't really a gaffe because he probably believes what he said."

Aso's government has not fared well in initial public opinion polls, receiving an approval rating ranging from 45 to 53 percent -- 10 points or more lower than other recent LDP governments in their first days.

Political experts said the fuss over Nakayama will drag Aso's popularity even lower, making it harder for him to gamble on general elections.

"But Aso would not benefit either by waiting longer before calling for the general elections," said Yoshinobu Yamamoto, professor of politics at Aoyama Gakuin University.

"He will have even more difficult tasks to tackle, such as the extension of the naval refuelling mission in the Indian Ocean," he said.

The domestically unpopular mission, which provides logistical support to US-led