Japan’s new cabinet minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Kazuo Kazuo exposes the “budget scandal”

Only half a month after Japan's new cabinet took office, scandals were exposed among its members. According to news from Japan on October 2, the new Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Kazuo Kazuo was accused of abusing his power and arbitrarily cutting the budgets of local governments that did not support him, triggering widespread criticism.

According to Japanese sources, the "budget gate" incident occurred in May this year. At a meeting of the Tochigi Prefecture branch of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Kazuo said complacently that the budget for road construction in Nasu Karasuyama City and Nakagawa Town in the prefecture had been "significantly reduced." He did this because the above-mentioned areas did not support him in the House of Representatives election in February. He lost that election to his opponent and was eventually elected through the "resurrection" of proportional representation.

Kawasaki was once a member of the "Abe faction", the original faction of the Liberal Democratic Party. In 2024, he was suspended from office for six months by the Liberal Democratic Party due to the "black money" scandal of the Liberal Democratic Party. Currently, Kazuo is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party's conservative group "Conservative Solidarity" and supports Takaichi Sanae on many policies. During the House of Representatives election in February this year, Sanae Takaichi "supported" him and commented that he was his "think tank" and was very important to him. In September this year, Hesheng was appointed as the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, becoming one of the two ministers in the new cabinet involved in the "black gold" scandal, causing controversy.

After the "Budget Gate" scandal was exposed, the opposition camp and the Japanese people were strongly dissatisfied and demanded the resignation of Mr. Some people criticized that He Hesheng used the public budget as a private threat tool and only had money, votes and power in his eyes, and must be replaced. Others pointed out that Takaichi Sanae promoted people with low moral standards to cabinet ministers and should be held accountable. The opposition camp may ask Sanae Takaichi and the Liberal Democratic Party to explain the matter.

In response to relevant news, Hesheng initially refused to respond, saying "I will not answer anything about what happened before becoming the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries." As public pressure and criticism increased, Hesheng held a press conference on the 2nd and admitted that he had made "budget reduction" remarks, but stated that he would not resign because of this.