TOKYO - Japanese Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Kazuo Yana on Monday retracted recently revealed past remarks he made on local road budget cuts that suggested he was able to exert unfair political pressure over budget allocations, apologizing for the comments.
But Yana told reporters in Tokyo that he does not intend to step down from his post, saying that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi had told him to "do your utmost" in the position. He is known as Takaichi's right-hand man on agricultural policy.
"It was extremely inappropriate of me to have made remarks that implied the budgets could be swayed by my intentions," Yana said, adding the comments reflected "a lack of morals" and that he deeply regrets them. He pledged to devote himself to his duties to restore trust.
Yana has been under fire since last week's reports that he told supporters in his constituency in May that road budgets had been drastically cut for two local municipalities due to the mayors' lack of support for him in the general election in February.
He lost in his single-seat district in Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo, but retained a House of Representatives seat through proportional representation.
Yana, a lawmaker of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party led by Takaichi who took up the ministerial post in a Cabinet reshuffle in mid-September, had earlier generally acknowledged the reported remarks, but called them "misleading" without making an apology.
He has also denied having put pressure on the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, which is in charge of construction and maintenance of national roads, to reduce the related budgets.
Yana was among LDP members who were disciplined for having failed to report income from fundraising events in a high-profile political slush fund scandal that emerged in late 2023 and dealt the party a heavy blow.
