Minister cut funding to cities for not supporting his election campaign?

So recently, Agriculture minister Kazuo Yana has landed in hot water over remarks he made earlier this year in a private gathering that he used his influence to cut road funding for two cities in Tochigi prefecture (Nasukarasuyama city and Nakagawa town). This was apparently in response to the mayors of these two cities not throwing their support behind him in the Lower House elections earlier this year - instead supporting Yana's rival. The result of the lower house elections saw Yana lose his seat in Tochigi, but managing to keep his seat in the House of Representatives, and the recent cabinet reshuffle saw Yana become Agriculture minister.

Furthermore, a recording was released of him bragging about it: (in Japanese only, but you can use the auto-generated English subtitles to get the general gist):

While he (eventually) apologised for the remarks, he denies that he actually sought to cut road funding for those two cities. The Land ministry says that they have found no evidence of Yana putting pressure on officials to cut road funding. On the other hand, nobody can recall if such a request took place at all. However, the Land ministry revealed that Yana did make inquiries in mid-February regarding 2026 funding, before funding allocations were finalized.

Prime Minister Takaichi is continuing to support Yana in the face of all this. However, given that she has continued to keep ministers that have histories of engaging in financial corruption, I can't say I'm surprised.