Japan minister quits after tsunami blunder

Japan’s gaffe-prone disaster reconstruction minister resigned yesterday after saying it was “good” the catastrophic earthquake-tsunami six years ago hit a largely rural region rather than Tokyo.

Masahiro Imamura’s comments prompted outrage and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was forced to apologise to residents of the devastated northeastern region of Tohoku, which is still recovering.

A massive undersea quake on March 11 2011 sent a tsunami barrelling into Japan’s northeastern coast, leaving more than 18,500 people dead or missing and sending three reactors into meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant.