Budget Shrinks in Two Cities against Agriculture Minister

Doubts on Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Kazuo Yana, about pressuring on his political opponents growingly shadows Sanae Takaichi administration. Although he denied his intervention in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), the budget for road construction in two of his hostile cities in his electoral district was actually cut. Not only opposition but leading parties began to criticize Yana. 

Yana made a speech that he had cut the budget for constructing roads in Nasukarasuyama city and Nakagawa town, which mayors supported a contender against Yana in last Lower House election in February. The MLIT is in charge of selecting the cities to appropriate budget for roads. Although lawmakers have power to investigate policies of government, they are not authorized to instruct ministries how to distribute national budget to local municipalities.

 

To the questions of the press, Yana explained that he had asked the MLIT about decision of the ministry, but denied that he had demanded budget cut for road construction in the two cities. The MLIT revealed that there had been a query from Yana about appropriation to the two cities in February, but Yana argued that the inquiry was based on the request from local supporters in his district. Strangely enough, he retracted his speech that he had cut the budget, denying any wrongdoing of him.

 

Takaichi has been firmly supporting Yana as her young staff. In a campaign rally in February, Takaichi asked voters to support Yana, describing him as her right-hand in agriculture policy. In the Diet discussion on October 7th, Takaichi insisted that she believed the budget for those two cites to have been appropriated with the principle of fairness.

 

However, the appropriation to those two cities was significantly cut. Subsidy for roads from the national government to Nasukarasuyama city in fiscal year 2026 was reduced by 26 percent from the previous year. That budget to Nakagawa town was cut by 54 percent. On the other hand, the cities which mayor supported Yana in the election did not suffer from such a major cut.

 

The opposition parties joined accusation of Yana’s speech which might have worked as a blackmail to Yana’s political opponents. In the leaders’ discussion over Takaichi’s policy speech, the chief representative of Komeito, Mitsunari Okamoto, argued that national budget cannot be controlled by personal preference of a lawmaker. The leader of Democratic Party for the People, Yuichiro Tamaki, demanded Takaichi to make thorough investigation on distribution of budget in all the ministries.

 

Japan Innovation Party, coalition partner of Liberal Democratic Party, is strict on political ethics. One of the leaders of the party, Seiji Maehara, recognized the issue worth resignation, if Yana had distorted national budget. Even Executive Acting Secretary General, Koichi Hagiuda, criticized Yana’s speech as arrogant and intolerable. As long as Takaichi protects Yana, keeping him in the position of cabinet minister, she and Yana is going to face that kind of criticisms from the parties.

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