(Image source: Japan Probe)
BY RUISHA QIAN
After just a week on the job, Japan’s trade minister Yoshio Hachiro has resigned.
This-- after two gaffes concerning the radiated areas around the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility.
“On Friday trade minister Yoshio Hachiro described parts of Fukushima as a city of death after visiting the quake-hit prefecture. He also joked with a journalist saying that the dirt he got off the sleeve may be radioactive.”
The remark was made when Japan’s new Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and his ministers were visiting the plant and surrounding areas.
Hachiro’s remark has been called insensitive to nuclear evacuees. He later apologized. The GlobalPost has it.
“‘A series of my remarks caused serious distrust among the people, especially the people of Fukushima. I seriously reflected on my remarks, and I made the decision to step down.’”
Analysts say Hachiro’s resignation as head of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry may cast the fledging Noda Cabinet in a bad light.
The Financial Times says-- another personnel shakeup is the last thing the ruling Democratic Party of Japan needs.
“Mr Hachiro was a relatively low-profile cabinet member. Still, his resignation is an embarrassment for a government that is seeking to break a pattern of short-lived administrations in Japan. [Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is the sixth premier to take office in the past five years.”
Others argue Noda’s quick decision to sacrifice Hachiro willl help dampen public criticism, but his declining voter support could make it harder to obtain help from opposition parties to pass bills in the divided parliament.
“...it was critical that Mr. Noda softened the stance of the opposition in the divided Diet from the get-go if it was to have any chance of making progress with quake reconstruction and re-establishing the credentials of the government. But the LDP, sensing renewed vulnerability, may now harden further its stonewalling stance. The party has repeatedly called for early elections.”
Mr. Hachiro’s exit isn't the fastest cabinet resignation in Japan. In 1988, a justice Minister resigned just three days after his appointment.
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