After a gaffe that suggested insensitivity to rising rice prices, Etō Taku resigned as agriculture minister on Wednesday, 21 May.
Etō’s ouster showed both Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru’s weakness on cost-of-living increases and the opposition’s strength, in that the threat of a no-confidence motion made the minister’s exit inevitable.
In turning to Koizumi Shinjirō to replace Etō, the prime minister showed the urgent need to change the narrative on rice prices ahead of the upper house elections.
