Photo/Illutration Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai answers questions from reporters after he tendered a resignation letter to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Oct. 31. (Takeshi Iwashita)

In the second resignation from the Cabinet in less than a week, Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai stepped down on Oct. 31 amid allegations that his wife, a lawmaker, paid her election campaign staff double the legal limit.

Kawai’s resignation followed the departure of trade minister Isshu Sugawara on Oct. 25 over allegations that he gave gifts to voters in his electoral district in violation of the Public Offices Election Law.

The resignation of two ministers in less than two months after the Cabinet reshuffle will likely fuel criticism of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for appointing them.

Asked how he will take responsibility, Abe told reporters on Oct. 31 he will do so "by regaining public trust and moving forward administrative matters.”

Kawai will be replaced by Masako Mori, who served as minister in charge of measures addressing the declining birthrate when Abe formed his Cabinet in December 2012 upon his return to power.

Kawai, 56, is a member of the Lower House, elected seven times in his constituency in Hiroshima Prefecture. He had previously served as the parliamentary vice minister of justice and a special adviser to Abe.

Becoming the justice minister in the Cabinet reshuffle on Sept. 11 marked his first appointment to a ministerial position. Kawai is said to have close ties with Abe.

He is also close to Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, who is considered a potential successor to Abe, heading a group of junior lawmakers supporting Suga.

The Shukan Bunshun weekly magazine reported the possible violation of the Public Offices Election Law by his wife, Anri, on its website on Oct. 30.

Anri was elected in the Upper House election for the first time in July. She is accused of having paid 13 staff members chanting her name and slogans from campaign vehicles 30,000 yen ($276) each per day, exceeding the statutory limit of 15,000 yen.

Kawai denied the allegations when he was confronted by reporters at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Oct. 31 after submitting a resignation letter.

“Neither I nor my wife has any knowledge” of the alleged wrongdoing reported in the article, he said.

But he decided to step down as justice minister "because public faith in Justice Ministry affairs will be eroded when an investigation into the allegations is under way.”

Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party fielded Anri and Kensei Mizote, an incumbent who was seeking his sixth term as an Upper House member and former chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, in the race when two seats were up for grabs in their Hiroshima Prefecture constituency.

The LDP’s prefectural chapter opposed Anri’s decision to run, but the prime minister’s office pushed her candidacy.

Suga traveled to Hiroshima twice to support her campaign.

Although Anri captured a seat, Mizote did not.

Kawai marked the 10th Cabinet member to step down after Abe returned to power in December 2012.

In the past week, other Cabinet members have come under fire for verbal gaffes, with even some LDP legislators criticizing them.

Following major outrage, education minister Koichi Hagiuda was forced to retract his comment on Oct. 28 suggesting that poorer students should simply accept their disadvantage when taking the new English-language portion of university entrance exams, which begins in fiscal 2020.

The new system is said to be unfair to students with families of limited economic means, particularly to those living in the countryside.

Defense Minister Taro Kono apologized on Oct. 29 for joking about his nickname “rain man” when he referred to a series of typhoons that has ravaged eastern Japan in recent months.

Tens of thousands of residents are still struggling to recover from the damage from the disasters.