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October 24, 2014

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Japan PM’s new minister hit by racy bar and shares scandals

JAPAN’S new trade minister yesterday called his support group’s spending at a racy bar “inappropriate,” but declined to sell shares in Tokyo Electric Power, the operator of the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant his ministry supervises.

The revelations about the trade minister come as a blow for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe after his cabinet suffered two high-profile resignations this week over separate funding scandals.

Yoichi Miyazawa, a veteran politician and nephew of a former prime minister, was picked to head the trade ministry on Tuesday after the resignation of his predecessor, Yuko Obuchi, over allegations that her support groups misused political funds.

Justice Minister Midori Matsushima resigned the same day over unrelated allegations of election-law irregularities.

Abe’s administration has been pushing to restart nuclear plants more than three years after the devastating Fukushima disaster. As the head of the powerful trade and industry ministry, Miyazawa will be in charge of key decisions on energy policy and the reopening of idled reactors across Japan.

Miyazawa, 64, said he learned from news reports of the 18,230 yen (US$170) that the support group spent at the sadomasochism-themed bar in his political district of Hiroshima.

“There’s no way we can classify expenditure at such a place as political spending. I think it was handled inappropriately,” Miyazawa said yesterday.

He called the incident “embarrassing,” and said that he did not go to the bar.

Kyodo News said the support group Miyazawa-kai had made the payment on September 6, 2010, labelled “entertainment expense,” according to a political finances report.

Abe’s first term between 2006 and 2007 was marred by a string of resignations, a pension records scandal and a minister’s suicide that eroded his support. He quit in the face of parliamentary deadlock and ill-health.

Miyazawa also admitted yesterday to owning shares in the de facto nationalized Tokyo Electric Power Co, operator of the destroyed Fukushima plant the trade ministry oversees.

While it is not illegal for him to hold such shares, it is customary in Japan for politicians to divest them when assuming a cabinet post.

Miyazawa’s holding of 600 Tokyo Electric shares is worth more than US$1,800, based on the current stock price.

Miyazawa said he would not sell his shares in the beleaguered utility, instead choosing to put them in a trust.

Koichi Nakano, a professor at Sophia University and a critic of Abe’s government, said the revelations about Miyazawa’s ownership of Tepco shares were troubling.

“It damages his credibility as the minister in charge of (reactor) restarts,” said Nakano.




 

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