Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's three-month-old Cabinet suffered another setback Wednesday as administrative reform minister Genichiro Sata resigned after admitting accounting irregularities by one of his political support organizations.
Abe has seen two top appointees step down in two weeks. First the head of his tax commission quit amid a row over his use of a government-owned condominium. Now Sata, a Lower House member from Abe's Liberal Democratic Party, has exited as well.
Abe told reporters that Sata's resignation was unavoidable and he will try to find a replacement before year's end.