Yasuo Fukuda

Hatoyama said on his Web site that he failed to pay pension premiums from 1986, when he was first elected to the Lower House, up until 1997 when he realized he had not paid.

DPJ Upper House members Tetsuro Fukuyama and Ryuji Yamane said on their Internet sites that since becoming lawmakers, there were periods when they failed to pay premiums.

Lower House member Naoki Minezaki, head of the DPJ's tax council, said April 30 that he had failed to make payments.

DPJ leader Naoto Kan had admitted April 28 that he did not pay into the pension program for 10 months in 1996, when he was health and welfare minister.

On the same day as Kan's admission, four Cabinet ministers -- Chief Cabinet secretary Yasuo Fukuda, Financial Services Minister Heizo Takenaka, Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki and Toshimitsu Motegi, minister in charge of the information industry and issues related to Okinawa and Hokkaido, admitted they had not paid.

On April 23, three Cabinet ministers -- Trade minister Shoichi Nakagawa, Home Affairs Minister Taro Aso and Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba -- said they had not paid the obligatory premiums.

The Japan Times Weekly: May 8, 2004
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