Japan Farm Minister Vows to Restore Disaster-Hit Areas

Anamizu, Ishikawa Pref., Oct. 5 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Kazuo Yana stressed his resolve to promote restoration in disaster-hit Ishikawa and Kumamoto prefectures during his visits to afflicted areas over the weekend.

He inspected progress in the work to restore farmland and fishing ports in Ishikawa on Sunday, after municipalities on the Noto Peninsula in the central Japan prefecture sustained heavy damage from a powerful earthquake in January 2024 and heavy rains in September the same year.

The minister told the press that he will "steadily work on" issues including budget allocation even if local government heads do not support the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Yana made the remark after weekly magazines Bunshun Online and Shukan Shincho reported that the minister, a member of the LDP, told a meeting in Tochigi Prefecture, his home turf, in May that the fiscal 2026 road budgets were drastically cut for two municipalities in the eastern Japan prefectures whose mayors did not support the party in the February election for the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament. At a press conference Friday, Yana broadly admitted making such remarks while denying that he had contacted the transport ministry for cuts in the road budgets for the municipalities.

"I will work on supporting reconstruction projects based on the local needs," Yana told reporters in Ishikawa on Sunday.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]