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Transport Minister Akihiro Ota, third from left, talks to reporter after parliament secretary Takeshi Tokuda's resignation in Tokyo on Monday. Tokuda has stepped down for "personal reasons" involving a woman, the Chief Cabinet Secretary said. Tokuda became the first member of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government to resign.
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15 Comments
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nath
last time Abe was PM two cabinet member committed suicide. this is nothing!
wanderlust
SOP - Japanese politics. Wait for the second or third of them to go, then start reading of media reports or polls of voter dissatisfaction, approval ratings dropping, a cabinet reshuffle, then change of PM. And for good measure thrown in a report of Ozawa starting yet another political party...
borscht
rickyvee,
Maybe if every politician were vetted there would be no politicians?
nath
I like the dude on his knees trying to squeeze in there with his voice recorder.
rickyvee
why in the world aren't these people vetted? hasn't japan ever heard of that term before? i mean, come on!
Yubaru
This time it won't really affect anything in the long run. The LDP has such a majority in the Diet that these guys in his cabinet could play musical chairs and it wouldnt make much of a difference.
Ninjazilla
Good Riddance
Disillusioned
His reasons seem a bit vague. I suspect pressure from the cronies to make way for the next transport minister would be more like it.
Michael Craig
One down, 293 to go!
BurakuminDes
I wonder how old Abe's guts are feeling right now? Make no mistake: there are going to be plenty more scandals and resignations in the coming months. Abe will be history by Autumn, likely replaced by Aso who wants another crack!
Ayesha
I don't get this. Either he did something illegal, in which case he needs to be prosecuted. Or he did something that was legal but would not go down well with the electorate. Unlikely to be a Judeo-Chrstian "sin" type thing, which happens all the time in Japnese politics and no-one bats an eyelid. Anyone know?
Thunderbird2
Another election in the Autumn?
viking68
"For 'personal reasons' involving a woman."
Any news on what this means? An affair? Inappropriate sexual behavior at or outside of work? A woman convinced him to resign?
Ian Duncan
I'm wondering why JT does not clarify that the reason he was forced to resign is a rape charge from 2004, after which he paid the alleged victim 100 million yen "compensation"?
http://japandailypress.com/2004-rape-charge-real-cause-of-government-secretary-takeshi-tokudas-abrupt-resignation-0622836
Ah, the gool old reliable, honourable LDP. They never fail to lower the nadir. Can you imagine the uproar there would have been six months ago if this had involved a DPJ minister?