Japan Industry Minister Resigns over Make-Up Scandal: Reports

Tokyo:  Japan's industry minister resigned on Monday over claims she spent political donations on make-up and other items unconnected to politics, reports said, in a blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Yuko Obuchi, who had been tipped to potentially become the country's first female prime minister, handed Abe her letter of resignation during a 30-minute meeting with the premier, public broadcaster NHK and Jiji Press news agency said.

Abe accepted her resignation, according Jiji.

Obuchi said she would hold a news conference soon. She would be the first minister to resign since Abe took power in December 2012.

Obuchi was a star minister when Abe reshuffled his cabinet in September, becoming the country's first woman in charge of economy, trade and industry -- a powerful portfolio that includes oversight of the energy sector.

The clean-cut 40-year-old was the most prominent of a new wave of women promoted to leading Cabinet positions.

But she is now facing claims that, over the five years to 2012, her political funding body spent more than 10 million yen ($95,000) on things unconnected to politics, including cosmetics and accessories at a department store.

Her political group has also invited residents in her electoral district in central Japan on bus tours to see theatre performances in Tokyo at fees below actual costs -- a move opposition lawmakers have called "vote-buying".

Story First Published: October 20, 2014 07:13 IST    

Typhoon Vongfong Leaves Two Dead, Nearly 100 Injured in Japan

Tokyo:  A powerful storm that battered Japan with high winds and torrential rain, and killed two people, headed off out over the Pacific on Tuesday and was downgraded to a tropical depression.

Typhoon Vongfong, at one point the strongest storm to hit Japan this year, was on Tuesday afternoon off the coast of the Tohoku region devastated by a 2011 earthquake and tsunami, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

After the storm passed through western Japan, a 90-year-old man in was found dead in a field irrigation ditch, while a 72-year-old man drowned. Another person was missing and nearly 100 people were injured.

Vongfong brought heavy rain to Tokyo through the night and snarled traffic across much of the country on the last day of a three-day holiday weekend. More than 600 flights were cancelled nationwide on Monday and more than 60 cancellations were expected on Tuesday, the NHK broadcaster said.

The sun returned to Tokyo on Tuesday morning and commuter train services were getting back to normal but heavy rain pounded northern Japan.

High tides flooded coastal areas in Kesennuma city, where land along the water sank because of the 2011 earthquake.

More than 800,000 people nationwide had been urged to leave their homes, while more than 150,000 homes lost power, NHK said.

Tokyo Electric Power Co, the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, said on Monday it had increased water transfer and storage capacity to prevent an overflow of radioactive water being stored at the plant.

A Monday baseball playoff game in Osaka for Japan's Pacific League, between the Orix Buffaloes and the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, was postponed. It was the first time a Nippon Professional Baseball playoff game was cancelled because of a typhoon.

© Thomson Reuters 2014