Shintaro Ishihara

Former Japanese finance minister Shoichi Nakagawa, who was forced to resign over his apparently drunken behaviour at a meeting of world powers, has been found dead at his home, police said Sunday. "We will soon conduct an autopsy and specify the cause of his death," said a spokeswoman for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. Nakagawa, 56, was lying face down on a bed at his home in Tokyo's residential district of Setagaya when his wife found him early Sunday, Jiji Press news agency and other local media reported. They said that no suicide note was discovered, and there was no suggestion of foul play. ... Read Full Story

A former Japanese finance minister who stepped down after appearing to be drunk at an overseas news conference was found dead in his home Sunday, police said, ruling out foul play. Shoichi Nakagawa was lying face down in bed when his wife found him in their Tokyo home, a spokesman for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department said on condition of anonymity due to police policy. Investigators have ruled out foul play because the room was undisturbed, and they were downplaying the likelihood of suicide. Determining a cause of death will likely "take some time," the spokesman said, adding that an autopsy will be conducted ... Read Full Story

Prime Minister Taro Aso's cabinet resigned en masse Wednesday, paving the way for the launch of a centre-left government that ends the long conservative rule of Japan, a government official said. Aso convened the cabinet for a brief meeting at which all of the ministers resigned, the official said. Yukio Hatoyama, head of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), was to be voted in as prime minister two and a half weeks after his party's stunning election victory changed the country's political landscape. Japan's new centre-left government is due to take power on Wednesday in a fresh start for Asia's top economy, which has ... Read Full Story

Japan's outgoing prime minister Taro Aso, ousted in recent elections, on Monday met with his successor ahead of this week's change of government and wished him "Good luck." During their 20-minute talk, Aso also urged Yukio Hatoyama not to make any mistakes that could harm Japan's economy or national security, according to local media reports quoting officials present at the meeting. Hatoyama, 62, who takes over as premier on Wednesday, is due to travel next week to the United States to attend a global meeting on climate change, the UN General Assembly, and a G20 summit on the world economy. At home he must ... Read Full Story

Japan's new centre-left government is due to take power on Wednesday in a fresh start for Asia's top economy, which has been under conservative rule for almost all of the post-war era. Yukio Hatoyama, head of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), was to be voted in as prime minister two and a half weeks after his party's stunning election victory changed the country's political landscape. "I'm thrilled with the joy of creating history, and at the same time I feel the very grave responsibility for creating history," Hatoyama told reporters in the morning as he came out of his house. Prime Minister Taro ... Read Full Story