TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japanese Farm Minister Taku Eto resigned Wednesday after facing a backlash over a remark that struck a nerve with a public suffering from soaring rice prices, dealing a blow to the already unpopular Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba ahead of a parliamentary election.
Ishiba, who ultimately bowed to opposition pressure and sacked Eto, picked Shinjiro Koizumi, 44, as the new agriculture minister, installing the popular former environment minister who lost in the Liberal Democratic Party's presidential race last year.
.jpg?width=700&fit=cover&gravity=faces&dpr=2&quality=medium&source=nar-cms&format=auto&height=394)
