The right-hand man of the Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Yoshiro Mori, resigned yesterday over an affair with a bar hostess and links to a right-wing extremist, reviving debate over the beleaguered Premier's own future.
The Chief Cabinet Secretary, Mr Hidenao Nakagawa, quit four months after being appointed to the job following the June 25th general election, which returned Mr Mori's coalition to power with a vastly reduced majority.
"I am no saint. It is regrettable that I have lost people's trust. I apologise," Mr Nakagawa said after submitting his resignation over a storm of controversy also involving shady dealings with North Korea.
Mr Mori's senior aide confessed to a weakness over sex after a lurid magazine expose of his secret affair with a bar hostess in her 20s. "I may have had such a period. It is my personal problem," he said.
The weekly magazine Focus also alleged Mr Nakagawa (56) had links with a senior official in a far-right group.
The final blow came on Thursday night after a prime-time news programme broadcast a tape of Mr Nakagawa apparently warning his mistress about a raid on her apartment by narcotics police. But Mr Nakagawa remained defiant about some of the more damaging allegations.
"In this stream of media reports, I see some which are completely groundless," he said without elaborating.
Mr Mori accepted some measure of blame, after losing the chairman of the Financial Reconstruction Commission, Mr Kimitaka Kuze, in July after just four weeks in the job. Mr Kuze quit after allegedly accepting favours from a bank.
"I am responsible for all the ministers," Mr Mori said. "Although I did not know about these matters regarding Mr Nakagawa, I feel great responsibility as the one who appointed him."
Mr Yukio Hatoyama, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, said he would hold Mr Mori to that responsibility.
Mr Mori named as Mr Nakagawa's replacement Mr Yasuo Fukuda (64), a former vice-foreign minister and son of the late prime minister, Takeo Fukuda. A Liberal Democratic Party stalwart, he has never held cabinet rank.