January 6, 2010
TOKYO — Japan’s new government braced for another setback Tuesday after reports that its ailing 77-year-old finance minister was pressing to resign, although it appeared that the prime minister might try to persuade him to remain in his job. The news comes at a difficult time — when the government, already weakened by a series of policy blunders and scandals, is attempting the delicate task of stimulating an economy already burdened with enormous debt.
The minister, Hirohisa Fujii, a fiscal conservative trusted by investors, is considered one of the few experienced hands in the cabinet of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, whose Democratic Party swept to power in September.
Mr. Fujii, who had said he was suffering from exhaustion and high blood pressure, announced early on Tuesday that he was awaiting doctors’ advice on whether he should stay in office.
Early Wednesday, several news agencies reported that Mr. Fujii had decided he wanted to resign, citing unnamed lawmakers from the governing party. But Mr. Hatoyama said he hoped that Mr. Fujii would remain in his post to see the coming fiscal year’s budget through Parliament. He added, however, that he would also respect medical recommendations on the finance minister’s health.
Officials at the Finance Ministry declined to comment.
Mr. Fujii, a veteran bureaucrat turned politician, has been seen by investors as a reassuring check on the left-leaning government’s spending plans. In recent months he has wrangled with ministries over budget cuts as Japan struggles to rein in its runaway public debt, close to twice the size of the country’s economy.
He has repeatedly insisted that the government stick to a $477 billion cap on new bond issuance for the fiscal year starting in April.
Mr. Fujii checked into a hospital Dec. 28 and has commuted to work from the hospital since. He told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday that he had discussed his health with Mr. Hatoyama.
Japanese news agencies later said that Mr. Fujii ultimately told the prime minister that he did not feel well enough to face long days of questioning in Parliament this month over next year’s record $1 trillion budget, a major challenge for Mr. Hatoyama’s government.
The government fears that the economy, which has been struggling for years, could slide back into recession.
Mr. Fujii’s deputies, Yoshihiko Noda and Naoki Minezaki, are among those who have been mentioned as possible successors.
Public approval ratings for Mr. Hatoyama’s government have slid from postelection highs of more than 70 percent to less than 50 percent in recent polls. The drop comes as negotiations over the relocation of an American military base in Japan have stalled and amid financing scandals linked to the prime minister and his party’s secretary general.
Mr. Fujii said last year that he intended to retire, but he stayed on after the Democratic Party victory, which ended a half century of almost uninterrupted single-party rule in Japan.
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