Japan's agriculture minister resigned Monday over misuse of farm subsidies, the fourth minister driven from office by scandal since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took power a year ago. Takehiko Endo quit just a week after being appointed to the Cabinet in a reshuffle aimed at regaining public support following a humiliating electoral defeat. «The series of media reports has made the people lose their trust in politics,» Endo told reporters in announcing his resignation, acknowledging «inappropriate» conduct. «Again, I apologize for not having been able to achieve anything.» «It's extremely unfortunate that this was the result after having given careful consideration as to who was the most appropriate person for the position,» Abe told reporters. Endo, Abe's third agriculture minister in the past four months, admitted on Saturday that a farm cooperative he headed had received government subsidies by exaggerating weather damage to the 1999 grape harvest.
