Japan's PM nominates Kazuyoshi Kaneko as transport minister

TOKYO, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso on Sunday appointed Kazuyoshi Kaneko, former state minister in charge of administrative reform, to succeed Nariaki Nakayama as land, infrastructure, transport and tourism minister.

Earlier Sunday, newly-appointed transport minister Nariaki Nakayama handed in his resignation due to verbal blunders only four days after his appointment in the cabinet of Prime Minister Taro Aso, who assumed the premiership and announced the lineup Wednesday.

During media interviews following his appointment, Nakayama made a series of controversial remarks, calling Japan an "ethnically homogenous" nation, which drew bitter criticism from both ruling and opposition parties as well as the indigenous Ainu people.

The 65-year-old politician, who served as education minister under former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, also uttered harsh words about the Japan Teachers' Union, which he criticized for a second time Saturday, on the subject of a bribery scandal involving the Oita prefectural board of education.

On those struggling for years against the building of the Narita airport, Nakayama viewed them as "more or less squeaky wheels," saying their actions were a result of "bad postwar education."

Nakayama offered apologies for his verbal gaffes at a news conference Friday amid angry protests from those who felt offended.