Did former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara fall or was he pushed concerning his resignation over the acceptance of a donation from a South Korean permanent resident of Japan?

Both. He was pushed due to the timing -- poor ratings for the Kan cabinet and the Ozawa mess is still hanging in the air. He fell because this is his second screw-up while he was a minister, after the earlier bogus email fiasco a couple of years back. He just seems a little bit sloppy with details.

Well if you wanted to change the current laws this would be the kind of set up you'd need to begin the process.

One for the team, perhaps?

Compared to other J-Politicians, esecially from the LDP, he's squeeky-clean.

He was pushed and should have stood his ground over something relatively insignificant as this.

Pushed, completely and absolutely.

Man, I should of donated to Ishihara, maybe would of gotten rid of him years ago...

Who cares? Not like he wasd doing a great job anyway. New oyaji will be juat as ineffective......

Who cares? Not like he wasd doing a great job anyway.

Not really the point though, is it? He was tossed because of a small donation he knew nothing about. Toss him because he is not doing a great job - okay, toss him because someone gave a tiny bit of money = suspicious

Maehara broke the law. Just like in the US, Japanese politicians are not allowed to accept money from foreign nationals. Allowing this rule to be broken would open a floodgates.

I hope they press charges.

Might make a few people wake up as to Japan's treatment of immigrants and special permanent residents, vis a vis the Zainichi Koreans, but then again, probably not.

Why does JT still care? This is a done deal. Move forward for something better.

Might make a few people wake up as to Japan's treatment of immigrants and special permanent residents, vis a vis the Zainichi Koreans, but then again, probably not.

We could put a poll tax on Zainichi Koreans who have rights to citizenship but don't exercrise it within a certain period after they qualify.

What a perfect excuse for Maehara to jump ship, how else can the Chief Mate get away from a sinking ship while the Master is at the helm without his peers seeing him being blatantly callous?

Any politician in this country forced out of a job due to a transaction of only six digits ought to be hounded out of politics for setting a bad precedent. Surely the figure should be set at a minimum of 10 million yen or else disregarded entirely.

The Foreign Minister takes a small donation from a foreigner what a laugh! Zeno phobia at it's worst, this guy was taken down perhaps because he was actually good at his job?