Outspoken Japan Official Terminates His Tenure

Accused of abusing power, making intemperate remarks and bending the law as a favor to movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger, Japanese Justice Minister Shozaburo Nakamura resigned today to spare his boss further embarrassment.

He was the second member of the Cabinet to resign under a cloud since Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi took office in July.

It has become something of a Japanese tradition for Cabinet officials to be forced out for making statements offensive to Japan’s Asian neighbors, and Nakamura’s troubles began in January when he called on Japan to revise its pacifist constitution and create a full-fledged military.

Though many conservatives agree, the remark by a Cabinet-level official startled the Foreign Ministry, whose job it is to soothe fears in China, South Korea and elsewhere that Japan intends to remilitarize.

At an official New Year’s party Jan. 4, Nakamura also attacked U.S. economic and trading practices as unfair.

“When other countries start winning under America’s free-market economic system, nuclear bombs and missiles start flying,” he said.

The opposition has had its knives out for Nakamura ever since, and allegations of wrongdoing by the minister have been trickling out steadily in the Japanese media.

The most sensational of these alleged gaffes dates from October, when Schwarzenegger flew into Osaka on a private plane and was allowed to enter Japan without a passport. The actor said his passport had been stolen. No evidence has been made public to suggest that Nakamura personally approved the admission. But Justice Ministry documents on the matter disappeared for months, prompting speculation that the minister, who admitted in parliament that he and his family are big fans of Schwarzenegger’s, pocketed them as a souvenir.

Nakamura is also alleged to have abused his authority by ordering a probe into a resort under development on Ishigaki Island, one of the southern Ryukyu chain that includes Okinawa. The new resort might have posed a competitive threat to a nearby hotel in which Nakamura had invested heavily, according to press reports.

The opposition had been demanding Nakamura’s ouster for days, but Obuchi had said that he would await the results of an official investigation before deciding whether to sack the minister.