Japan Highway Public Corp. President Haruho Fujii on Monday defied an order by transport minister Nobuteru Ishihara to resign, forcing Ishihara to begin the formal process of sacking him.
Fujii called the minister's secretariat shortly before noon Monday and said he wanted to "refrain from writing his resignation himself."
On Sunday, Ishihara told the head of the troubled expressway operator to step down to take responsibility for the semigovernmental firm's controversial balance sheet.