Among the 19 members of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's Cabinet, Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka, thanks to his wife's fortune, ranks tops in terms of family assets, with ¥303.31 million, documents showed Friday.
Four new Cabinet members — Tanaka; Deputy Prime Minister Katsuya Okada; Justice Minister Toshio Ogawa; and Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Hirofumi Hirano — unveiled their family assets.
According to the newly disclosed documents of Tanaka, he has ¥100.91 million, while his wife, Makiko, a former foreign minister and daughter of the late Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, has ¥202.40 million. The defense chief took the Tanaka family name when he married.
Around 80 percent of the defense chief's assets are from the Tanaka family home in Tokyo's Mejiro district, inherited from the late prime minister.
Okada reported ¥70.50 million in family assets, while Ogawa put his family assets at ¥150.10 million, and education minister Hirano at ¥22.25 million.
The average amount of assets declared by Cabinet members, including Noda, stood at ¥57.63 million, surpassing the ¥50.67 million at the launch of his first Cabinet last September.
Cabinet members began disclosing their assets in 1984, after Kakuei Tanaka was convicted in the Lockheed payoff scandal.
Currently, the prime minister, Cabinet ministers, senior vice ministers and parliamentary secretaries are required to disclose their family assets.