Resignations may slow Abe's agenda

But Japanese PM unlikely to suffer long-term damage, analysts say

The resignations of two cabinet members within a week have again cast doubts on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's appointments and may affect his agenda including constitutional reform but they are unlikely to cause lasting damage due to a lack of strong rivals and a weak opposition, analysts said.

On Thursday, Abe accepted the resignation of Japan's Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai, who was accused by Shukan Bunshun weekly magazine of violating the Public Offices Election Law in the election campaign for his wife, Anri Kawai.

The article said Anri Kawai, who was elected to Japan's Upper House for the first time from the Hiroshima district in July, paid staff members who chanted her name and slogans from campaign vehicles 30,000 yen ($248) each per day. That amount exceeded the legal limit of 15,000 yen, but receipts for payments were forged in an apparent accounting gimmick to avoid violating the law, according to the Shukan Bunshun article.

"The current Japanese Cabinet had raised eyebrows since it was formed in September. Kawai's quick resignation allowed him to avoid grilling by opposition lawmakers in parliament, but cast more doubts on Abe's Cabinet appointments," said Dai Erbiao, vice-president of the Asian Growth Research Institute in Fukuoka.

Kawai's resignation came in less than a week after Isshu Sugawara tendered his resignation as trade and industry minister over allegations of giving gifts of melons and crabs to voters in his Tokyo constituency.

On Kawai's resignation, Tetsuro Fukuyama, secretary-general of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, said: "Resigning automatically because of a weekly magazine report on a matter that is strongly suspicious of illegality is, in a sense, tantamount to admitting it."

"This should have been a matter worth a general resignation of the Cabinet members," he said.

"The ministers have to resign quickly not only because the suspected law violations could be true, but also because Abe is concerned of possible influences on Diet (parliament) debate of his long-cherished constitutional reform," Masanari Koike, a former member of Japan's House of Representatives told China Daily.

Koike said although similar cases had happened before, the latest resignations could be more damaging.

"Together with the current bribery scandal of a former local government official and Kansai Electric Power Corporation and the already raised taxes, people will have a deep sense of distrust of the administration and politics itself," Koike added.

In October, 20 executives of Kansai Electric Power were reported to have been given cash and gifts, including shopping coupons and gold coins, worth 318.45 million yen over a number of years by the late deputy mayor of Takahama.

Although scandals keep occurring in Abe's administration, setting off harsh criticism from the opposition parties, Dai in Fukuoka said Abe is likely to survive.

"With the opposition parties still too weak to pose much threat, and would-be successors inside the ruling Liberal Democratic Party are not yet circling in anticipation of Abe's downfall, I think the resignations will not bring lasting damage to his administration," Dai said. He noted that when two ministers quit within hours in 2014 over political funds scandals, Abe himself was not harmed.