Agriculture minister Matsuoka commits suicide; leaves 6 notes

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka committed suicide Monday at his residence in Tokyo amid various political funds scandals, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who had supported him in the face of increasing opposition pressure for his resignation ahead of the House of Councillors election in July. Six suicide notes, addressed to individuals, such as the premier, upper house member Shuntaro Kageyama, the vice agriculture minister and Matsuoka's secretary, were found on a desk in his room.

In addition, two pieces of paper were also left, with one of them, addressed to Japanese people and his supporters, saying, "I'm sorry for causing trouble," according to police.

Matsuoka also wrote on the pieces of paper, "I have to blame myself for the problems," and "Only my wife knows the inside details."

Abe told reporters, "He was a competent minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, so the effects on the administration will be significant."

The premier also said he is keenly aware of his "responsibility" for Matsuoka's action as the one who appointed the 62-year-old LDP lawmaker to the Cabinet post.

Asked what he thinks lay behind the suicide, the premier said shortly after confirmation of Matsuoka's death, "I do not have any comments to make at this stage. It is not appropriate to make presumptions lightly."

According to the lower house's secretariat, it was "probably the first case in postwar Japan" in which an incumbent Cabinet member has committed suicide since Army Minister Korechika Anami committed "hara-kiri" on Aug 15, 1945, the day World War II ended.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki told a press conference that Environment Minister Masatoshi Wakabayashi has replaced Matsuoka as acting agriculture minister on a temporary basis.

A by-election to fill the vacant seat will be held in the No. 3 constituency in Matsuoka's home prefecture of Kumamoto on the same day as the upper house election, now speculated to be July 22, in line with the Public Offices Election Law.

Matsuoka was found by his secretary and a security police officer hanging by a rope resembling a dog leash in his pajamas in the living room of his residence in a parliamentary housing building in Tokyo's Akasaka District at 12:18 p.m., the Metropolitan Police Department said.

Matsuoka's heart was not functioning when the secretary, who talked to the minister in the room around 10 a.m., and the officer found him, the police said. They visited the room because Matsuoka had not shown up to attend a meeting of the House of Councillors Audit Committee.

Matsuoka was taken to Keio University Hospital at around 1 p.m., where he was pronounced dead at 2 p.m., Shiozaki, the top government spokesman, said. The cause of his death was suffocation.

Police said no autopsy was performed on Matsuoka's body and handed it over to his relatives later in the day.

Abe, Shiozaki and other cabinet members were among people who attended a wake held at a funeral hall in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on Monday evening. Abe left there some 15 minutes later without saying anything to reporters.

Matsuoka took the cabinet post for the first time last September, when Abe assumed office. He had been under fire for various political funds scandals, with opposition lawmakers demanding he resign as minister.

Matsuoka had been questioned for not providing a clear-cut account of the expenditures to run his office.

In March, the funds management body of Matsuoka was found to have booked more than 20 million yen as utility costs for five years until 2005, despite the fact the body used a cost-free official parliamentary office.

When questioned by opposition lawmakers during parliamentary committee deliberations, Matsuoka said the funds were booked appropriately under law and attributed the huge utility charge to "special water" he was buying, which he said cost 5,000 yen for a 500-milliliter bottle, a remark that sparked public controversy.

In the most recent case, his fund management and other related bodies were found to have gained a total of 13 million yen in donations over three years through 2005 from 14 contractors based in the southwestern Japan prefecture that have been awarded public works orders from the Japan Green Resources Agency.

The agency is a farm ministry-affiliated forestry management entity suspected of having been involved in rigging bids. Matsuoka formerly worked in the ministry as a bureaucrat and served as senior vice minister in it after becoming lawmaker.

Matsuoka was first elected to the lower house in 1990. He was reelected for a sixth term in 2005.