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Abe draws flak in suicide spat

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe felt the heat yesterday after the suicide of a scandal-tainted minister, with media saying he bore partial responsibility amid a sharp drop in his approval rating.

Agriculture, Fisheries and Forest Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka, a longtime Abe ally who was under fire over political donations and rigged contracts, hanged himself on Monday, sending shockwaves through the political establishment.

A grim-faced Abe and other ministers offered a one-minute prayer for Matsuoka at the beginning of a regular Cabinet meeting with a white flower placed on Matsuoka's empty chair.

"It was extremely regrettable that his life was cut short with things only half done," Abe told his ministers, asking them to stick together and keep working for the national good.

Lawmakers, ministers and business leaders paid their respects privately at a Tokyo funeral hall. His body was later driven past the parliament building on its way to the airport and his home in the southern province of Kumamoto.

Matsuoka, a career bureaucrat turned politician, had helped Abe rise through the ranks but suffered a poor public image due to his close ties with powerful lobbies.

He hanged himself in his residence hours before he was to be grilled in parliament over allegations of bid-rigging for public works.

In another suicide linked to the scandal, Shinichi Yamazaki, the former head of a public company handling forest work, apparently threw himself off his condominium yesterday.

Yamazaki had headed a government-affiliated company in charge of contracts for forest work. Investigators were probing whether bids were rigged to give projects to donors to Matsuoka.

Analysts said Matsuoka's suicide would be a severe blow to Abe, who has suffered a sharp decline in public support.
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