With Tearful Amari Resigned, Ishihara Replaced

TOKYO - Japanese Economy Minister, Akira Amari resigned after a week fending off allegations he received money in return for favors. A tearful, Amari apologized for the scandal, saying it had caused embarrassment. He added any cash received by his office was a political donation but he had to take responsibility for what happened on his watch. He said his secretary had also resigned.

"I decided to resign my cabinet position today in consideration of my responsibility to oversee my secretary as a national lawmaker, my duty as a minister, and my pride as a politician," Amari, 66, told reporters in Tokyo.

Nobuteru Ishihara, a former secretary general of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party, will replace him, national broadcaster NHK reported.

Amari is the most influential minister to step down since Abe took office in December 2012. He was Japan’s point man in the Trans-Pacific Partnership regional trade talks, and spearheaded Abe’s strategy to boost the nation’s competitiveness, known as “Abenomics.” The announcement prompted a brief rise in the yen before it settled little changed at 118.71 against the dollar as of 6:19 p.m. in Tokyo.

“The resignation of one of the leading members in the Abe cabinet hurts the policy implementation capacity of Abenomics," said Minori Uchida, head of global markets research at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. "It may be a reason to buy the yen and sell stocks.”

With the yen strengthening to a one-year high last week, and exports falling faster than expected in December, the resignation comes at a key time for Abenomics, which is aimed at pulling the world’s third-largest economy out of deflation. The loss of Amari may also prove a headache for Abe in the run-up to elections in parliament’s upper house this summer.