Eto resigns after remarks on rice
Farm minister Taku Eto has resigned after the remarks he made about rice triggered a firestorm of criticism from voters and lawmakers, posing a fresh challenge to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's embattled government.
'I made an extremely inappropriate remark at a time when citizens are suffering from soaring rice prices,' Eto told reporters after handing in his resignation at the prime minister's office yesterday.
Ishiba appointed former environment minister Shinjiro Koizumi as his replacement at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), saying he was counting on his reform-minded stance to produce results.
The doubling of rice prices from last year has become a top concern for Japanese voters, long accustomed to years of deflation and suffering from stubbornly low inflation-adjusted wages.
The government has been releasing rice since March from its emergency stockpile to tame prices, but that has had little impact.
Data on Monday showed retail prices rising again in the week through May 11 after falling for the first time in 18 weeks. That has increasingly led to retailers and consumers seeking out cheaper, foreign rice.
'MAFF covers a wide range of responsibilities but in my mind, what I need to focus on right now is simply rice. I'm going into this job with the mindset that I am essentially the 'minister in charge of rice',' said Koizumi.
Having previously served as the head of the Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) agriculture and forestry division, Koizumi said there would be no sacred cows in his efforts to lower rice prices, and that a strong political will would be needed to achieve those goals.
Rice farmers are traditionally a strong support base for the long- governing LDP and Japan protects the rice market with hefty levies beyond the tariff-free 'minimum access' quota agreed under World Trade Organization rules.
Eto's departure threatens Ishiba's already-shaky grip on power ahead of key upper house elections in July.
His LDP and its junior coalition partner Komeito lost their majority in the more powerful lower house in a snap election Ishiba called in October shortly after taking office.
Eto's resignation is the first from Ishiba's Cabinet excluding ministers who had lost their seats in those elections. — Reuters
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