Japan's agriculture minister found himself in hot water Wednesday after noting that a state-backed bill to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement may be steamrolled through the ongoing extraordinary session of the Diet.
The furor over the comments by Yuji Yamamoto, who took up the ministerial post in an August reshuffle of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet, brought Wednesday's Diet discussion on the pact to a standstill. Opposition lawmakers blasted the remarks as exemplifying what they said is the Abe government's heavy-handedness.
The comments reportedly came during a party organized by Tsutomu Sato, chairman of the Lower House Committee on Rules and Administration on Tuesday night.
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