IT’S THE question burning up the airwaves in Japan: is the man in charge of steering the world’s second-largest economy through its worst crisis since the 1970s drunk at the wheel?
The soul-searching follows an eye-popping performance by the nation’s famously heavy drinking finance minister, Shoichi Nakagawa, at a weekend G7 meeting in Rome.
During a Saturday press conference, Mr Nakagawa (55) slurred, yawned, lost his train of thought and appeared to nod off during a reporter’s question. At one point he called the G7 “the G20” and could not recall Japan’s current rate of interest.
Arriving home yesterday to find his feet in the fire on the day Japan announced its worst economic figures since the mid-1970s oil crisis, a contrite Mr Nakagawa blamed a heavy cold.
“I took a larger-than-usual portion of cold medicine,” he said. “I am sorry for my behaviour.”
A glass of wine on the 13-hour flight to Rome had aggravated his condition, he claimed, in a bid to head off calls for his resignation.
Mr Nakagawa’s chances of remaining in office have been weakened by alarming quarterly economic figures showing that the economy dived at an annualised rate of 12.7 per cent, its worst performance in 30 years and a steeper decline than the US or Europe.
With exports of Japan’s mainstay cars, machine tools and electronics plummeting, several manufacturing giants, including Toyota, Nissan and Sony, have recently announced large production cuts and layoffs.
“This is the worst economic crisis in the postwar era,” warned economic minister Kaoru Yosano yesterday. “There is no doubt about it.”
The dismal economy is overshadowed by political paralysis and the growing unpopularity of prime minister Taro Aso’s beleaguered administration. Recent polls put his personal support at lower than 10 per cent.
A survey by the liberal Mainichi newspaper showed Mr Aso’s rival, Ichiro Ozawa, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), almost 10 points ahead – a grim harbinger for the ruling Liberal Democrats, who have been in power for most of the postwar period. The government must call an election by September.
Mr Aso has been accused of trying to bribe the electorate with a handout of about €103 to every citizen. The prime minister is reportedly considering yet another government stimulus package worth 20 trillion yen (about €169 billion).
As the economy tanks, opposition politicians called Mr Nakagawa’s performance on the world stage “an embarrassment”.
“He is supposed to be dismissed right away,” said Yukio Hatoyama, secretary general of the DPJ, who blamed the finance minister for “damaging the national interest”.
Mr Nakagawa’s political friends expressed sympathy yesterday.
“He really loves to drink,” said former prime minister Yoshio Mori, who before Mr Aso held the record for the most unpopular postwar government. Staring grimly at TV pictures of the apparently inebriated minister, Mr Mori said: “I advised him once to be careful about drinking.”