Takekazu Ogura, a former vice farm minister who once headed the government's Tax Commission and the Rice Price Council, died Thursday of a heart attack. He was 91.

Ogura joined the farm ministry in 1934. In 1960, he became vice agriculture, forestry and fisheries minister after serving as director general of the Food Agency.

After retiring from the ministry in 1961, he served as chief of both the rice price panel and the Agricultural Administration Council. He also served as a Bank of Japan Policy Board member.

Ogura, who headed the tax panel from 1974 to 1990, was known for making such remarks as "Japan's indirect tax system is rotten."