Japan minister resigns over remark about 2011 tsunami

Tokyo: Japan’s disaster reconstruction minister resigned over his remark that “it was good” that the march 2011 quake and tsunami had hit northern Japan instead of areas closer to Tokyo.
Prime minister Shinzo Abe accepted Masahiro Imamura’s resignation on wednesday. Imamura was replaced by Masayoshi Yoshino, former deputy environment minister from Fukushima, which was also hit by radiation leaks from a tsunami-hit nuclear power plant. Nobody died from radiation, but overall, the tsunami and the quake killed more than 18,000 people across northern japan. (Ap)