Edano named as Japan trade minister

Former chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano has been named as Japan’s new trade and economy minister.

Mr Edano replaces Yoshio Hachiro, who resigned on Saturday just eight days into the post after he was widely criticised for calling the area around the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant a “town of death”.

Mr Edano, 47, became a familiar figure on television as the government’s chief spokesman during the nuclear crisis.

Some 100,000 people who used to live around the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant have been evacuated and it remains unclear when they will be able to return to their homes.

Mr Hachiro, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and other government ministers were visiting the plant on Thursday when Mr Hachiro made his comments. He later told reporters he just meant to convey the seriousness of the situation and his commitment to decontaminate it so residents can return.

Announcing his resignation on Saturday, he said the remarks “rubbed the feelings of Fukushima people the wrong way” but he did not intend to be hurtful.

The 63-year-old was less forthcoming about a second comment which also was criticised.

According to local news reports, he joked with journalists that radiation he acquired on his clothing during his visit to Fukushima might be contagious.

Support for Mr Noda’s new government has started out strong, with an approval rating of 62.8% in a Kyodo poll released last Saturday. But that rating could suffer after Mr Hachiro’s gaffe.

Past leaders have had honeymoon periods of relatively high approval ratings which declined steadily as the public grew impatient.

Mr Noda’s predecessor, Naoto Kan, had early approval ratings topping 60% which crashed to below 20% near the end of his 15-month tenure due to perceptions that his government mishandled the March tsunami disaster and nuclear crisis.