TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's farm minister Taku Eto on Monday came under fire after saying that he does not need to buy rice because he receives so much of it from supporters, at a time when soaring rice prices have squeezed households.
Eto's comments, made Sunday at a fundraising party, came as his ministry moved to release rice from emergency stockpiles to help curb prices that have roughly doubled from a year earlier due to a poor harvest. Prices for the staple food remain elevated.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who summoned Eto to his office and urged him to retract the "problematic" remarks, allowed him to remain as farm minister and work to ease the burden of rising rice prices on households, ahead of a parliamentary election this summer.
Eto said at a meeting organized by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's local chapter in Saga Prefecture on the southwestern island of Kyushu, "I'm not buying rice. Thanks to my supporters giving me plenty of it, I have so much of it in my house that I could sell it."
The government has faced criticism for waiting until March to begin releasing stockpiled rice, even though prices had started rising in the fall of last year.
As opposition lawmakers questioned whether Eto is fit to lead the farm ministry, describing his comments as "insensitive" and "inappropriate," Ishiba quickly apologized in an effort to contain further damage as the end of the regular Diet session approaches.
Ishiba told reporters before hearing Eto's explanation at the prime minister's office, "I myself have to apologize deeply as someone who appointed him. The responsibility also lies with me."
Later Monday, Eto told reporters that he was ready to step down if Ishiba wanted him to. But the premier and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi asked him to "fully retract" the comments and continue his duties while sincerely reflecting on the incident.
"I retract my remarks fully and apologize," said Eto, a lawmaker representing a constituency in Miyazaki Prefecture on Kyushu. He has denied that receiving rice from supporters violates the country's law that limits donations.
Rising rice prices have exacerbated the pain felt by consumers, who have had to contend with rising costs of other food items and energy.
Some 87 percent of respondents in a weekend Kyodo News survey expressed dissatisfaction with how the government has been coping with soaring rice prices. The public support rate of Ishiba's Cabinet hit a record low since he took office last October.
The average price of rice sold at Japanese supermarkets between May 5 and 11 reached a record 4,268 yen ($29) per 5 kilograms, up from 4,214 yen between late April and early May, when it dropped for the first time in 18 weeks.
Amid growing backlash over the farm minister's comments, Junya Ogawa, secretary general of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the main opposition force, said it is a "serious" issue that could cost Eto his job.
Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Democratic Party for the People, also lambasted Eto's remarks as "insensitive." He said, "There are many people who feel rice is out of reach or cannot buy as much as they want because it is too expensive."
The government auctioned 312,000 tons of reserve rice in three tranches between March and April. It plans to release an additional 300,000 tons by July.
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