Agriculture minister Ota resigns over handling of tainted rice issue

Saturday 20th September, 01:20 AM JST

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thepro at 12:50 PM JST - 19th September

how often do ministers in this country resign too? seems to happen all the time
Altria at 01:49 PM JST - 19th September

Don't offer, just step down.

Don't just step down from your ministerial post, resign from politics.
davidattokyo at 02:07 PM JST - 19th September

This guy was already about the 4th Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister in 24 months. I wonder if Wakabayashi will be called back yet again for another caretaking stint.
serindipity at 02:43 PM JST - 19th September

This is so typically Japanese. Wouldn't it be more pertinent for him to make a stand and assure the public he will do everything he can to make sure this doesn't happen again? Instead, he just passed the buck over to another fall-guy for the next time it happens.
escape_artist at 04:01 PM JST - 19th September

Below are links to get the MAFF interim report (in Japanese) thus far of the companies affected by the Mikasa Foods contaminated rice scandal. Nothing related to the scandal on the English MAFF site that I could find (not that there would be, though).

http://www.maff.go.jp/j/press/

** For updated reports, addendums or info, look for orange-colored right-side buttons labeled "食料" [shokuryou], and with the characters "事故米" [jikomai] in the item's title.

Other useful info...

Principles of the Environmental Policy in Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Outline - January 2004 * English (PDF, 19 KB) http://www.maff.go.jp/e/policy/pdf/outline_e.pdf * Japanese (full text) (PDF, 54 KB) http://www.maff.go.jp/e/policy/pdf/zentai.pdf

** Tuesday, 9/16/2008 -- First interim report released http://www.maff.go.jp/j/press/soushoku/syoryu/080916.html -- Interim report + data: PDF, 163 KB http://www.maff.go.jp/j/press/soushoku/syoryu/pdf/080916-01.pdf

** Thursday, 9/18/2008 -- List of companies in report confirmed not to have sold any contaminated rice http://www.maff.go.jp/j/press/soushoku/syoryu/080918.html -- List of businesses (attachment): PDF, 10 KB http://www.maff.go.jp/j/press/soushoku/syoryu/pdf/080918-01.pdf
outofmydepth at 06:01 PM JST - 19th September

well now he has a "wriggle and a rumpus" and i wish he would be forced to eat that (tainted) rice, those (tainted) rice crackers and wash it all down with the (tainted) shochu - since he promised that it would cause no harm to the human body. good riddance but from what ive seen in my 15 plus years here - the next one wont be much better.
barfly08 at 06:38 PM JST - 19th September

Typical cowards way out ! Instead of always resigning Japanese politicians should do what the people demand... solve the freakin' problem ! Just look at how the US is addressing the current bank crisis. No one quitting, no one running for cover, no one looking for a way out. Everyone has instead dug in their heels and are meeting the challenges head on. If only Japanese politicians had the same fortitude.
borscht at 08:50 PM JST - 19th September

barfly08,

After being in power with no real opposition for the last 50 years, LDP politicians have come to expect that what they say, the country/government/people will do. Now that they have lost the upper house and actually have to really, really work on maintaining the 'wa' they can't hence, the resignations of everyone from the farm minister to the prime minister.
some14some at 10:22 PM JST - 19th September

What sense does it make? Cabinet is going to resign en masse on 22nd and he resigned individually just 3-4 days in advance. Business as usual, Govt is not going to sort out mixture of contaminated rice and edible rice.
KitsuneYoukai at 11:15 PM JST - 19th September

Do they not believe in second chances. It's sad that everytime somone makes a mistake here you feel the need to resign without even given the chance to mend your mistakes. People get criticized for being upfront. People say they want the truth but in reality do not.
gogogo at 12:44 AM JST - 20th September

I don't understand why the top guy always have has to resign, I'm sure this guy had nothing to do with it and was all the corrupt companies trying to profit.
Wottock_Hunt at 06:25 AM JST - 20th September

And was he ever taken properly to task for the scandal he was in just before Fuukuda quit? He'd been found - what a surprise - to have been misappropriating public money to the tune of tens of millions. Was that put right? Of course not. Fukuda's resignation provided a distraction, now Ota's got a suitably "honorourable" reason for his getaway, and the rest of us will be landed with higher taxes to make up the shortfall.

Bunch of crooks.
pathat at 09:58 AM JST - 20th September

Oh, how brave you are, Seiichi Ota! Resign from your post to accept responsibility for these horrific food safety scandals a week or so before being replaced anyway.

What a demonstration of virility! Perhaps Prime Minister Fukuda should laud you in a farewell speech as a "black panther."

Please stay active in the national government as long as possible, Seiichi Ota. The Japanese people need strong, open-minded, future-thinking politicians like you!
outofmydepth at 02:50 PM JST - 20th September

psst - by the way, ive heard that if you resign you get to keep your pension and possible descend from heaven into a cushy job. thats why people resign - get fired and you`ve got nothing.
pathat at 04:39 PM JST - 20th September

outofmydepth: "amakudari" has nothing to do with this as Ota is not a government bureaucrat, and the pension has nothing to do with it either as Diet members have a different pension system.