Goto Replaces Yamagiwa as Economic Revitalization Minister

Tokyo, Oct. 25 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday appointed former health minister Shigeyuki Goto as his new economic revitalization minister, after the predecessor, Daishiro Yamagiwa, resigned the previous day.

Goto, 66, officially took office after an appointment ceremony at the Imperial Palace the same day.

At a plenary meeting of the House of Representatives on the day, Kishida "deeply" apologized for Yamagiwa's resignation while a parliamentary session was ongoing. "I take my responsibility as (Yamagiwa's) appointer very seriously," he said.

Kishida was speaking about the matter in the Diet, as requested by the opposition camp as a condition for accepting the start the same day of deliberations on a bill to revise the infectious disease control law.

At the Lower House meeting, Seiji Osaka, acting chief of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, argued, "This confusion was caused by the prime minister himself, who could not decide to dismiss Yamagiwa."

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]