The resignation of the nation's No. 2 prosecutor, Mamoru Norisada, was accepted by the government Tuesday in connection with his affair with a 28-year-old former bar hostess.
Norisada, 60, head of the Tokyo High Public Prosecutor's Office, submitted the resignation Monday to Public Prosecutor General Keisuke Kitajima.
Although the Justice Ministry concluded earlier in the day that a reprimand based on the National Civil Service Law was not in order, it did give him a "strict warning" on the appropriateness of his actions, considering the nature of his position.
Justice Minister Takao Jinnouchi launched an investigation into Norisada after a magazine report alleged that Norisada used public money to take the woman with him on a business trip in September 1994.
However, after questioning Norisada, the woman and a businessman involved in introducing the two, the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office told the Cabinet that it deemed his extramarital relationship with the woman to be a private matter.
It also concluded the trip as well was a private matter because Norisada was on holiday and paid for the woman's expenses himself, according to the ministry.
On the magazine's allegations that Norisada had asked a pachinko acquaintance to pay 800,000 yen to the woman so she could have an abortion, the top prosecution office determined that the money was in fact provided by Norisada himself.
Norisada said through a statement Monday that his actions caused the justice ministry and the prosecution "much trouble" and that he felt that the best thing for him to do was to resign.