Defense Minister Taro Kono apologized Tuesday for joking about his "rain man" moniker at a time when Japan is reeling from the impact of multiple typhoons in recent months.

"I would like to apologize to all those to whom I caused offense," he told an Upper House committee on foreign and defense affairs, referencing the comment he made at a fundraiser on Monday.

"I was often called 'ame-otoko' by local residents," Kono joked in his address at the event, using a term meaning a man who seems to attract rain wherever he goes. "Since I became defense minister, there have already been three typhoons."