So the other day, (now former) Agriculture minister Kazuo Yana has resigned amid escalating scrutiny of his antics. As mentioned in my previous post, it started when it was revealed that Yana bragged at a private gathering about using his influence to cut road funding for two cities in Tochigi prefecture (Nasukarasuyama city and Nakagawa town), as a form of payback for the mayors backing his political rivals in the Lower House election. While he lost his seat in Tochigi, he held on to his seat in the House of Representatives.
What sealed his fate was additional information was discovered where Yana had provided free shuttle bus transportation for his supporters during the election, which raised questions of the legality of what could be considered buying votes. Yana denied it was illegal, saying that his team had consulted with the Tochigi Electoral commission beforehand. Thing is, the electoral commission cannot confirm that such consultation ever took place. In a further blow, it was also revealed by someone who worked in Yana's campaign for the lower house back in 2024 that she was paid to call people to vote for Yana, a breach of the Public Offices Election act.
On October 14th, Yana submitted his resignation, with Prime Minister Takaichi accepting it October 15th. This is a blow to her considering he was only in Agriculture Minister role for only a month, and brings to question her decision to defend a man like Yana, who has had history of financial corruption, despite being supposedly "disciplined" by the LDP, which I assumed was some minor finger wagging and light slap on the wrist. In any case, it's good that a corrupt politician (finally) gets their comeuppance.
Now we will see how Yana's successor Arata Takebe will go
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