An “unforgivable” gaffe has forced the resignation of Japan’s first Defence Minister and exposed the rawness of the wounds caused by atomic bombings more than 60 years ago.

Fumio Kyuma’s sudden resignation yesterday has done little to calm the outrage felt in Nagasaki, the city he represents, and Hiroshima, because of his apparent lack of remorse.

His resignation was accepted by Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister, who was keen to distance himself from his Defence Minister before crucial elections this month. Mr Kyuma is succeeded by Yuriko Koike, who is the first woman to take charge of Japan’s Armed Forces.

Mr Kyuma’s remarks, made during a lecture in the city of Chiba, appeared to some to justify the United States’ use of nuclear weapons in 1945.

Mr Kyuma concluded that the attacks had brought the Second World War to an early end and that the bombings, which killed more than 210,000 people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, were shou ga nai, or “something that we just have to accept”.

In a farewell speech yesterday Mr Kyuma insisted that the phrase (described by linguists as a “verbal shrug” implying, “It’s not good, but what can you do?”) had been misinterpreted as an endorsement of the bombings.

“I have said that the atomic bombings should not have happened but I used the words ‘couldn’t be helped’, and [some] interpreted my expression as linked to the bombings because of my careless words,” he said.

But his explanation did not satisfy many groups in Japan who feel keenly that the atomic bombings have no justification. On Monday the Nagasaki prefectural assembly unanimously accepted a resolution describing the Kyuma gaffe as being “in no possible way acceptable”.

Mr Kyuma indicated that he was resigning not because of the emotional pain caused by his gaffe but because he did not want any “misunderstanding” to hurt the ruling party’s chances in the House of Councillors election on July 29.

Nevertheless, political analysts say that the damage may already have been done. In the nine months since he became Prime Minister, Mr Abe’s popularity has plunged and his Cabinet has crumbled under a barrage of scandals, gaffes and the recent suicide of the Agriculture Minister.

Mr Kyuma’s resignation brings disgrace to a political position that was created this year when Mr Abe, in one of his first moves as Prime Minister, upgraded Japan’s former defence agency to ministerial status.

Ms Koike is an Arabic-speaking MP who previously served as Environment Minister and ran national security affairs under the Government of Junichiro Koizumi.

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