Japanese ministers’ departure deals blow

TOKYO — Two female Japanese cabinet ministers, appointed last month as part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s plan to let women “shine,” resigned their posts Monday amid allegations of financial impropriety.

Their departures undermine Abe’s efforts to lead by example when it comes to promoting working women, and they cast a dark cloud over his administration at a difficult time. The prime minister’s “Abenomics” plan to revive the economy looks to be fizzling out, and he must decide in the next few months whether to press ahead with a hugely unpopular rise in the consumption tax.

“I apologize to all citizens for what happened,” Abe told reporters outside his office Monday afternoon as Trade and Industry Minister Yuko Obuchi and Justice Minister Midori Matsushima resigned within hours of each other.

Abe swiftly appointed Yoichi Miyazawa, a former official in the powerful Finance Ministry, as the new trade and industry minister. He appointed another woman as justice minister, turning to Yoko Kamikawa, who previously served as minister for gender equality and once worked for Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, who is now ambassador to China.

“I hurried on the selection of the replacements, as difficult tasks are piling up and we must proceed with the economy as a top priority,” Abe said.

The resignations mark Abe’s biggest setback since he returned to the premiership almost two years ago.

“The fact that Abe was putting so much emphasis on women makes it even harder for him,” said Koichi Nakano, a political scientist at Sophia University in Tokyo.

With Japan’s labor force aging and shrinking, Abe has presented women, who often stop working once they get married, as critical to hoisting Japan out of its decades of economic stagnation. He has made a policy dubbed “womenomics” a key part of his strategy to revive Japan’s economy through structural reforms.

Another support group spent $35,000 on goods from businesses run by Obuchi’s sister and brother-in-law, public broadcaster NHK reported, in violation of political funding laws.

The throwaway fans are commonly handed out at festivals during humid August. Over three years, Matsushima gave away almost 22,000 fans featuring a caricature of her and costing about 75 cents each, according to reports.