Masahiro Imamura was responsible for reconstructing parts of Japan after a devastating earthquake in 2011 Toshiyuki Matusmoto/Kyodo News/APA cabinet minister who said that it was “just as well” that a deadly 2011 earthquake hit northeast Japan has resigned, heaping embarrassment on the government. Masahiro Imamura, who was responsible for reconstruction in the disaster-stricken Tohoku region, made the remarks last night at a party held by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. “The fact that it was in Tohoku, right up there, that was just as well,” the 70-year old minister said. “There would have been a massive, enormous damage had it occurred closer to the capital region.”More than 18,000 people died in the disaster in March 2011. Hundreds of thousands more were forced out of their homes by the tsunami and by radiation leaking from the meltdown of three reactors at the…

Source: The Times April 26, 2017 07:52 UTC