TOKYO, JAPAN: For making several unbelievable verbal gaffes about teachers' unions and Japanese society, Transport Minister Nariaki Nakayama was Sunday (28 Sept) forced to quit, just five days after his appointment.

His stepping down, which was a de facto sacking by newly minted Prime Minister Taro Aso, dealt a severe blow to the fledgling administration.

Nakayama handed his resignation to Aso Sunday morning. His was the second-shortest ministerial term in post-war Japan by one day.

Aso told reporters: "His remarks were outrageous and inappropriate. It is very regrettable. It was inevitable that he should resign."

Opposition lawmakers have vowed to pursue the matter in Parliament, saying Aso must take the blame for appointing Nakayama as minister in the first place.

The Prime Minister made no attempt to pretend he was not to blame.

"At the time that I appointed him, I thought Nakayama was the right person for the job. But when a person becomes a minister, they normally don't make those sort of remarks. I recognise my responsibility for appointing him," Aso told reporters.

Former reform minister Kazuyoshi Kaneko has been picked to replace Mr Nakayama.

Speaking in an interview straight after his appointment last Wednesday (24 Sept), Nakayama had declared that Japanese society was "ethnically homogenous" - a comment that blithely ignores the existence of Japan's indigenous Ainu people.

Nakayama, a former education minister, also insisted that schools in southern Oita prefecture had lower academic standards than elsewhere in the nation, because the children of unionised teachers there were able to become teachers themselves even if they performed badly in school.

He also suggested that prefectures where the rate of unionisation of teachers was high also performed badly in education.

The influential Asahi Shimbun daily subsequently carried an article giving data that showed that his allegations were way off the mark.

In his interview, Nakayama also upset farmers fighting for land seized for airport construction, by describing them as hoping to get what they wanted by grumbling. He also blamed post-war education for their behaviour.

Although he later apologised, he put his own neck in the noose last Saturday by again blasting the teachers' union and describing it as the "cancer" of Japan's education system.

He called for the dismantling of the union and said he would take a key role in the effort.

He told reporters yesterday that he had no intention of withdrawing his remarks about the teachers' union as he wanted to draw attention to the issue.

Nakayama's gaffes were the last thing that Mr Aso needed.

The Prime Minister is believed to be eyeing the possibility of early general elections.

But figures released last Friday (26 Sept) showed that the popularity of his new administration fell below expectations, topping 50% in only one poll, though his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) did marginally better than its main rival, the Democratic Party of Japan.

The LDP also fears that the announcement last week by still-popular former premier Junichiro Koizumi that he would retire from politics may hurt the party at election time, as he was seen by many voters as the symbol for reform.

By damaging the image of the Aso administration, the resignation of Nakayama has made it even harder for the Prime Minister to decide when to dissolve the Lower House and hold an election.

Some LDP lawmakers feel that a general election should be held as soon as possible, to give the opposition no opportunity to use the Nakayama resignation and other issues against the party in Parliament.

But there are also lawmakers who feel that as present circumstances do not favour the party, elections should be postponed till next year.

A general election is technically not due until September next year. (By KWAN WENG KIN/ The Straits Times/ ANN)