A Japanese Cabinet minister committed suicide yesterday, hours before he was due to be questioned over a series of political scandals, throwing the Government of Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister, into turmoil.

Toshikatsu Matsuoka, 62, the Minister for Agriculture, was found hanged from a door in his apartment, Japanese media reported. He had used a dog lead, and a suicide note was said to have been found.

He was taken to hospital but doctors were unable to resuscitate him. A police post-mortem examination confirmed that he died after he had hanged himself.

Mr Matsuoka had been due to appear before a parliamentary committee to explain allegations that he had claimed more than 28 million yen (£120,000) in utility expenses at his parliamentary office, despite all parliamentary office bills being paid for.

Mr Matsuoka had devoted almost his entire working life to the Agriculture Ministry but his time as a Cabinet minister was dogged by scandal. He was forced to apologise publicly only three days after taking office for not declaring all his political donations and had become tainted by allegations of involvement in a separate bid-rigging scandal for public construction projects, including some in his own constituency.

After the arrests last week of two government officials in the bid-rigging investigation, Mr Matsuoka said that he felt personally responsible. “I believe it is my responsibility not to let anything like this occur again,” he said. Amid all the accusations he repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, but calls for his resignation from opposition parties and within the ruling coalition began to mount.

Mr Abe had supported Mr Matsuoka, saying he believed that everything had been handled properly. “As the one who appointed Minister Matsuoka to the post I feel responsible for the action taken by a Cabinet member,” he told reporters.

Earlier Mr Abe had appeared shaken after visiting the hospital where Mr Matsuoka’s body had been taken. “It is extremely unfortunate and I am overwhelmed with regret,” he said. “I want to pray for the rest of his soul.”

The suicide has serious implications for the Government. It came on a day when polls showed that Mr Abe’s public approval rating had sunk to a record low since he took office in September.

Last week it was revealed that mistakes over pension payments had left more than 50 million people receiving less money than they were entitled to. In recent months Mr Abe has also faced opposition to some of his most treasured policies, including an attempt to modernise Japan’s pacifist Constitution, and a controversial education Bill that some fear could provoke nationalist attitudes in young people.

With vital upper house elections scheduled for July, Japan’s ruling coalition is now expected to struggle to hold on to the majority it needs to ensure the smooth passing of new government Bills.

The upper House of Councillors is the Japanese equivalent of the House of Lords and, as such, holds significant power for the passing of new legislation. The elections will be the first nationwide poll since Mr Abe took charge, and if his party loses there will be immediate pressure on his position.

A Japanese government report this month showed that the number of suicides as a result of work-related stress reached a record high last year. Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, with more than 32,000 people taking their own life in 2004.

Mr Matsuoka is the first Cabinet minister to commit suicide while in office since the Second World War. While mental health professionals say that attitudes towards stress are improving, there are still concerns that not enough is being done.

Shame and redemption

— Suicide in Japanese culture is significantly different from that in the West. Rather than a private rejection of society, it is often regarded as a public form of interaction with it, stemming from feelings of loyalty and deep communal integration

— It can be used to signal discontent with society. The author Yukio Mishima, below, killed himself in 1970 to protest against the fading of Japan’s traditional values. Characters in his novels expressed an idealised form of suicide as an act of self-subjugation to the greater good

— In a culture where shame can be spread by association as well as personal action, an individual suicide can redeem not only oneself but others, too. Samurai often committed suicide when defeated. This protected the honour of those they served and their fellow warriors

— General Hideki Tojo attempted suicide after Japan’s surrender in the Second World War, but survived shooting himself. He apologised for his failure

— The suicide of someone who has disgraced themselves, or their office, is likely to be seen not as a means of escape from the situation but rather as a way of rectifying it

Sources: japan-guide.com; theforeigner-japan.com; World Health Organisation

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