DPJ's Yanagida steps down as justice minister over gaffe+

TOKYO, Nov. 22 Kyodo - Justice Minister Minoru Yanagida stepped down Monday over recent comments widely seen as deriding his duty to respond to Diet questioning, dealing a further blow to an administration already reeling from falling public support amid a spate of problems both at home and on the diplomatic front.

Yanagida said he was unsure about quitting his post as he still wanted to stay
on and tackle various judicial issues such as reform of the public prosecutors
office, but decided to tender his resignation after meeting Prime Minister
Naoto Kan on Monday morning, indicating that the prime minister essentially
sacked him.
''The prime minister told me to understand that for the public good, the
government needs to have an extra budget pass the Diet as soon as possible,''
Yanagida said at a hastily convened press conference at the Justice Ministry,
becoming the first minister to step down since Kan reshuffled his Cabinet about
two months ago.
''Given that my indiscreet remarks in Hiroshima were becoming an obstacle (to
budget deliberations), I conveyed my resignation to the prime minister,'' he
said.
For the time being, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku will concurrently
serve as justice minister.
Yanagida made the remarks that led to his downfall at a gathering in his
constituency in Hiroshima on Nov. 14.
''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, citing the phrases, ''I refrain from making comments on a specific
issue,'' and, ''I'm dealing with the matter based on laws and evidence.''
Kan stressed in parliament that Yanagida initiated his resignation so as not to
adversely affect Diet deliberations and fended off opposition lawmakers' claims
that he induced the minister to quit and that he was responsible for the latest
furor because he, as premier, had appointed Yanagida.
The main opposition Liberal Democratic Party was preparing to submit a censure
motion on Monday against the 56-year-old House of Councillors member of the
ruling Democratic Party of Japan.
Despite stepped-up pressure from the opposition bloc, including an LDP plan to
submit a censure motion against Sengoku as early as Wednesday, the premier told
reporters Monday evening that given the importance of the extra budget for
stimulating the economy, he hopes to see the ''extra budget pass through the
Diet without further delay.''
Even so, Yanagida's resignation did not appear to guarantee smooth passage of
the extra budget through the Diet, as LDP President Sadakazu Tanigaki said the
resignation was just one condition that his party had set for its passage.
Voting on the extra budget was initially slated for Wednesday but is now likely
to be pushed to Thursday or later.
Yanagida's decision came amid growing public discontent with the DPJ-led
administration, the latest proof of which was a weekend poll by the Mainichi
Shimbun that showed public support for Kan's Cabinet had plunged to 26 percent,
down 23 percentage points from its poll in October and hitting the lowest level
since Kan took office in June.
Up until Sunday, Yanagida said he would not quit his Cabinet post, while Kan
also said last week that he had no plans to remove Yanagida. But the government
was apparently left with no choice as the opposition bloc was adamant in asking
for Yanagida's head.
A native of Kagoshima, Yanagida, a former Kobe Steel Ltd. employee, won his
first Diet seat in the 1990 lower house election and switched to the upper
house in 1998. He is currently serving his third term in the upper chamber.
==Kyodo