Japan minister quits after a week

Mr Matsumoto gave no reason for his departure at a Tokyo press conference on Tuesday

Japan’s Minister for Reconstruction Ryu Matsumoto has announced his resignation after just a week in the job.

He had been widely criticised for making insensitive remarks to governors of areas badly affected by March’s deadly earthquake and tsunami.

He had said the government would not help them financially unless they came up with good rebuilding proposals.

The resignation will increase pressure on PM Naoto Kan’s already unpopular government, correspondents say.

Last month Mr Kan survived a no-confidence motion brought by MPs critical of his handling of the reconstruction process following the quake, tsunami and ensuing nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, says the BBC’s Japan correspondent, Roland Buerk.

The prime minister is trying to persuade MPs to back an extra $25bn (£15.5bn) of reconstruction funds, and will not have wanted attention to be diverted by his minister’s comments, adds our correspondent.

A moist-eyed Mr Matsumoto announced his resignation at a Tokyo press conference early on Tuesday, but gave no reason for his departure.

“I have many things I would like to say… But I will be gone from now,” AP quoted him as saying.

The 60-year-old made the offending remarks to regional governors during a tour of tsunami-hit prefectures of Iwate and Miyagi on Sunday.

Mr Matsumoto also berated Miyagi Prefecture Governor Yoshihiro Murai for keeping him waiting. He then ordered journalists filming the exchange that it should not be broadcast, saying their networks would suffer if it was.

The 11 March quake and tsunami levelled homes, businesses and towns along Japan’s north-eastern coast, leaving more than 20,000 people dead or missing in the country’s worst disaster since World War II.

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