Minoru Yanagida? Japan’s Justice Minister has had to step down this week after comments? that the job was too easy and his admission that the following two well worn phrases covered? most of the issues he had to deal with whilst in cabinet …“I refrain from making comments on a specific issue” and “We’re dealing with the matter based on laws and evidence.”
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Here’s what the WSJ has to say on his demise..
Full story at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704243904575630202224102916.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
TOKYO?Japan’s justice minister announced his resignation Monday following a weeklong furor over comments he made disparaging his job?the latest in a series of scandals undermining the government of Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
Minoru Yanagida stepped down after the opposition revealed plans to tie up parliament with a motion to censure him, which would have delayed a $60 billion stimulus package meant to boost an economy hit by the global slowdown and a strong yen that reduces exports.
“In order to pass the supplementary budget through the Diet as soon as possible, I told Prime Minister Kan my intention to step down this morning?.My remarks were a kind of joke, but I was careless. I am deeply sorry about that,” Mr. Yanagida said at a news conference.
But some opposition parties said they were not satisfied, and would still not allow the stimulus package to be voted on Wednesday as planned.
“It would be absurd for the prime minister to ask for support for the supplementary budget in exchange for meeting our call for the (justice minister’s) resignation,” said Tadamori Oshima, a vice president in the opposition Liberal Democratic Party. “The people who appointed him also bear responsibility.”
Some other opposition figures expressed more caution about holding up a measure meant to help the economy.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku, considered one of the most powerful people in Mr. Kan’s government, will also serve as justice minister, in what is expected to be an interim appointment.
Mr. Yanagida came under fire after reports surfaced that he had recently told constituents that the job of justice minister, part of the cabinet, was not very difficult.
“Being a justice minister is easy, as I only have to remember two phrases, either of which I can use in parliament whenever I’m stuck for an answer,” he said, adding that the two phrases are “I refrain from making comments on a specific issue” and “We’re dealing with the matter based on laws and evidence.”
