The woman often been referred to as the likeliest candidate to become Japan’s first female prime minister has resigned.  Trade and Industry Minister Yuko Obuchi is alleged to have used political donations on personal items such as cosmetics and other items unrelated to her position.

Obuchi is the daughter of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, who died in office in 1998 after suffering a stroke.  She was elected to his Diet Constituency in 2000, and has been a rising star in conservative politics.  After a 30-minute meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe today, that star took a different trajectory as he decided to accept her resignation.

Part of Obuchi’s former profile was Japan’s Nuclear Power industry, which the Abe administration has been anxious to restart. 

“Obuchi is a woman and a mother of a small child. Abe probably calculated that the Japanese people will find the government's explanation for restarting nuclear operations more credible if it comes from the cabinet minister they can relate to, such as her,” said Yuki Tatsumi, senior associate in the East Asia program at the Stimson Center in Washington, in an interview conducted before Obuchi’s resignation today.

Yuko Obuchi was one of five female members of the Diet who were elevated to the cabinet in Abe’s most recent shake-up less than two months ago.  All five have been hit with scandals involving racism and wrongdoing in the weeks since.

Justice Minister Midori Matsushima last month was accused of breaking the election campaign law.  Eriko Yamatani, chair of the commission that supervises the National Police, was revealed in photographs to have ties to “Zaitokukai”, a racist, ultra-rightwing group that opposes and harasses ethnic Koreans living in Japan.  She later denied knowing the group even existed, despite appearing in photographs with its leader.

A neo-nazi party plastered its website with photographs of its leader posing with the future Internal Affairs Minister Sanae Takaichi and with Tomomi Inada, the ruling party’s policy chief.  “Gender Issues” Minister Haruko Arimura has been criticized for her extreme right-wing views on the subject, as well as her admiration of the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Class-A war criminals alongside Japan’s war-dead.