Japan's new government was off to a bad start Sunday, DPA reported. Just days after starting work, Transport and Tourism Minister Nariaki Nakayama resigned because of controversial remarks he made, broadcaster NHK reported. The same day he was elected by Parliament, on Tuesday, Prime Minister Taro Aso named Nakayama to the post. With his resignation, the conservative former education minister Nakayama, 65, took full responsibility for a series of controversial remarks, the report said. His missteps apparently included disparaging remarks about the country's largest teachers' union Nikkyoso, which he called a "cancerous tumour" that should be removed.
