Top Japan official quits
> Move follows claims he sexually harassed reporters
TOKYO: Japan’s top finance bureaucrat resigned on Wednesday after a magazine said he had sexually harassed several female reporters, the latest blow for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe whose ratings have been hit by a series of scandals.
Finance minister Taro Aso said he had accepted the resignation of administrative vice finance minister Junichi Fukuda after the Shincho weekly reported last week that Fukuda made advances on reporters.
He is reported to have asked women if he could touch their breasts or, while drinking, if they could hug.
Fukuda said “it had become more difficult for me to carry out my duties” following the report, though he denied the allegations.
The opposition camp also urged Aso to resign, saying the minister had failed to fire Fukuda and investigate the matter, even though Abe has repeatedly said his government wants to create a “society in which all women shine” .
The ministry’s handling of the case also fuelled criticism – even from ruling lawmakers – because it asked the female reporters to come forward to talk to a lawyer working for the ministry.
Meanwhile, an anti-nuclear governor stepped down on Wednesday after the Shukan Bunshun magazine alleged he paid university students for sex, a resignation that could boost the government’s plan to restart the mothballed reactors.
Ryuichi Yoneyama was elected governor of Niigata prefecture in 2016 on a pledge to prevent the restarting of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power station, the world’s biggest nuclear plant.
Yoneyama, a 50-year-old unmarried doctor and lawyer, paid women in their 20s to have sex, according to Shukan Bunshun.
“I decided to step down to avoid further turmoil and to take responsibility for my actions,” he said, bowing in front of cameras.
“It was hard to find someone to date ... I did give gifts and money to get attention” from the women, he said. – Agencies