Japanese Finance Minister Resigns

That not all Japanese are samurais and stoic warriors was demonstrated by their Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa, who had one too many drinks at the meeting of the seven most developed countries in the world last weekend. The mischievous minister sparked public outrage due to his inappropriate behavior at the summit in Rome, and consequently was forced to resign, of course for health reasons, in which the already precarious position of his boss, Taro Aso, likely played a role.

The Japanese Prime Minister enjoys increasingly dwindling popularity due to citizens’ dissatisfaction with his handling of the economic crisis. In addition, the swift reaction of the opposition in parliament left little choice for the cheerful minister. However, Nakagawa did not confirm his intoxication, instead claiming in his version that it was confusion due to long-haul flight (jetlag) exacerbated by cough syrup, a frequent cause of such misunderstandings. He will remain in the cabinet until parliament approves a budget rebalancing aimed at alleviating the effects of the recession. This mixture has led to a series of anecdotes that have been retold for days, such as Nakagawa’s bumping into a door, and Kenei Yamaoka, head of the parliamentary affairs committee of the opposition Democratic Party, stated that few are unaware of Shoichi’s penchant for cough syrup.

As is often the case, recordings surfaced from a parliamentary session in 2006 when Nakagawa paused in the middle of a speech and stood motionless for about half a minute before finally sitting down. At that time, he blamed the back medication he was taking. Japan has generally not been flourishing in recent years, with the last few months being the worst, clearly. Exports are falling at a record pace, while the stock market is swimming at the bottom due to the poor situation and lack of clear direction in economic policy. Governments have begun to resemble Italian ones more than Japanese ones, with a series of falls, changes, resignations, etc. On the other hand, the job of Finance Minister is one of the least desirable these days, so a tendency towards such refuges should not be surprising. (Vanja Figenwald)