In another blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai tendered his resignation Thursday after a magazine alleged that his wife violated election laws when she campaigned for her Upper House seat.
The resignation marks the second departure from Abe's Cabinet in just a week after trade minister Isshu Sugawara resigned Friday amid a gift scandal.
The pair are both close aides to Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, one of a handful of politicians considered potential candidates to succeed Abe, and their resignations are likely to damage Suga's reputation as a skillful master of power politics in Nagatacho, Japan's political epicenter.
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