Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi plans to appoint Arata Takebe, a former vice minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, to succeed Kazuo Yana, who resigned as agriculture minister the previous day. It is the first time a minister in the Takaichi cabinet has been removed over misconduct.
Japan's Nikkei reported on the 15th that Takaichi intends to tap Takebe, the former vice minister, as Yana's successor. Takebe is scheduled to formally take office after an attestation ceremony at the Imperial Household Agency.
Yana submitted his resignation the previous day amid controversy over remarks about cutting road budgets. According to local media, at a Liberal Democratic Party chapter meeting in Tochigi Prefecture in May, he said he had "sharply cut this year's road budgets for Nasukarasuyama and Nakagawa" because they had not supported him.
Koichi Hagiuda, acting secretary-general of the LDP, said the remarks "stemmed from arrogance and can never be tolerated," one of a series of objections raised within the ruling party. Suspicions also emerged that Yana had violated the Public Offices Election Act by providing free shuttle bus transport for supporters in his constituency. Yana ultimately offered to step down, and Takaichi accepted.
It is the first resignation of a minister over misconduct since the Takaichi government took office in October last year. The replacement came less than a month after the cabinet reshuffle. Asked whether she would have kept Yana in the post had he not submitted his resignation, Takaichi said, "Nothing had been decided," adding, "I take my responsibility for the appointment seriously."
Takaichi and Yana were known to be close, and the prime minister praised him as "my strategist" while campaigning for the House of Representatives election. But with the impact of a consumption tax cut — one of Takaichi's signature policies — on farmers emerging as a major issue, analysts said controversy surrounding the minister in charge of agriculture had become a political burden.
Takebe has served as deputy chair of the LDP's Policy Research Council and as vice minister at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology as well as the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. He belongs to the Shisuikai, the faction led by Toshihiro Nikai that was long the largest within the LDP.