Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told a parliamentary committee on October 19 that the new disaster management agency should help municipalities obtain support smoothly across ministries.
Kazuo Yana said after the lower-house budget committee on October 14 that he had met Prime Minister Takaichi, expressed his intention to resign and submitted a resignation letter as his own decision.
The lower-house budget committee opened on October 13 with Agriculture Minister Kazuo Yana's road-budget remarks in focus. LDP lawmaker Norihisa Tamura also questioned fairness in allocations.
TV Asahi reviewed Agriculture Minister Kazuo Yana's remarks that he had cut road budgets for municipalities whose leaders had not supported him. He withdrew them and apologised in the lower house on October 8.