Japan's newly-appointed transport minister Nariaki Nakayama handed in his resignation Sunday due to verbal blunders.
At a press conference following Nakayama's resignation, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawanura said that he will act as transport minister pro tem.
Nakayama's resignation came only four days after he was appointed as land, infrastructure, transport and tourism minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Taro Aso, who assumed the premiership and announced the lineup Wednesday.
During media interviews following his appointment, Nakayama made a series of controversial remarks, calling Japan an " ethnically homogenous" nation, which drew bitter criticism from both ruling and opposition parties as well as the indigenous Ainu people.
He also uttered harsh words about the Japan Teachers' Union, which he criticized for a second time Saturday, on the subject of a bribery scandal involving the Oita prefectural board of education.
On those struggling for years against the building of the Narita airport, Nakayama viewed them as "more or less squeaky wheels", saying their actions were a result of "bad postwar education".
The 65-year-old minister offered apologies for his verbal gaffes at a news conference Friday amid angry protests from those who felt offended.
This is Nakayama's second cabinet post. He served as education minister under former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
(Xinhua News Agency September 28, 2008)
