TOKYO, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Japan's land ministry said Tuesday that its officials did not feel pressured by Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Kazuo Yana over road budgets for two municipalities whose mayors did not support him politically.
Yana is facing mounting criticism following reports last week that he told supporters in his constituency in May that fiscal 2026 road budgets had been sharply cut for Nasukarasuyama City and Nakagawa Town. The mayors of both municipalities supported his rival in the House of Representatives election in February.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, however, confirmed that Yana had contacted ministry officials to check fiscal 2026 road budgets for the two municipalities in Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo.
The ministry said officials who responded to Yana's inquiries said they did not feel that he had attempted to influence or pressure them, although some could not clearly recall the matter and had kept no notes of their exchanges with him.
Yana on Monday largely acknowledged making the reported remarks, but retracted them and apologized, while saying he had not pressured the land ministry to cut the budgets and would not resign.
The planned government subsidies for road projects in fiscal 2026 have decreased from the previous year in three municipalities whose mayors supported Yana's rival, including Nasukarasuyama and Nakagawa, Kyodo News reported, citing municipal officials.
Meanwhile, the subsidies have increased in two municipalities in the same constituency whose leaders backed Yana, the report said.
While Yana's remarks have sparked widespread criticism, opposition lawmakers called for a full investigation and Yana's removal.
"The issue is whether political intervention or pressure distorted budget allocations that should be objective and neutral," Democratic Party for the People leader Yuichiro Tamaki told reporters, calling on Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to order an investigation across all government ministries.
"To take budgets hostage in an attempt to expand one's local influence is conduct unbecoming of a politician," said Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Shunichi Mizuoka.
Yana lost his single-seat district in Tochigi in the February election but retained his House of Representatives seat through proportional representation. He entered the Cabinet for the first time in the reshuffle in mid-September. ■
