Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa abruptly resigned Tuesday evening amid rapidly growing calls to quit over his sloppy and allegedly drunken appearance at a Group of Seven press briefing in Rome on Saturday.
Prime Minister Taro Aso accepted Nakagawa's resignation letter immediately and said he would appoint economic and fiscal policy minister Kaoru Yosano, 70, to succeed Nakagawa in both posts, giving him a total of three portfolios and leaving the fate of Japan's deteriorating economy and finances to one man.
"It's very regrettable," Aso said of Nakagawa, one of his closest political allies.