{
  "id": 12478203,
  "title": "What did Japan's scandal-stricken farm minister say to get him into so much hot water?",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/06/what-did-japans-scandal-stricken-farm-minister-say-to-get-him-into-so",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-06T22:00:13.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Mainichi",
    "slug": "the-mainichi",
    "url": "https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20261006/p2a/00m/0op/020000c"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Farm minister Kazuo Yana reportedly suggested in May that he had slashed road budgets for two municipalities in his Tochigi Prefecture district if they did not support him politically. He told party members that it was \"natural\" to allocate more funds to areas reliant on LDP lawmakers. In the February lower house election, Yana and independent candidate Shintaro Watanabe competed in Tochigi No. 3 district, with Watanabe ultimately winning. Among municipalities in Yana's district, those supporting him saw budget increases, while opponents experienced budget cuts. Yana later apologized for the remarks, claiming they were \"extremely inappropriate\" and that he had not personally ordered budget reductions. He denied resigning and pledged to work to regain trust.",
  "summary": "The Mainichi Shimbun has found that road budgets rose in municipalities in Japanese farm minister Kazuo Yana's district, Tochigi No. 3, whose leaders",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}