Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a press conference given ahead the G7 in Brussels. 5 June 2014. Photo by Aurore Belot. Copyright Demotix. The cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has received several setbacks so far in the month of October. Two female cabinet ministers have been forced to resign over alleged misuse of political funds. And now the replacement for one of the recently departed ministers is under fire after only three days on the job for allegedly allowing his political support group to claim expenses for a trip to an S&M bar. Yoichi Miyazawa, who replaced newly minted Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yuko Obuchi, is also himself under fire for holding shares in Tepco, the giant power utility he's responsible for regulating as trade and economy minister. Members of Abe's cabinet are “falling like dominoes” according to horseracing tabloid Nikkan Gendai. Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) government has been in power since December 2012, about 18 months after the “triple disaster” of a massive earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear accident devasted much of Japan's northeast coastline. Much of Abe's mandate so far has been scandal free, in part because Abe and his supporters have displayed remarkable restraint and focus in achieving their goals, compared to previous governments (Japanese prime ministers typically have a life-span of about a year). On the economic front, Abe's government has been focused on somehow stimulating the Japanese economy. Some attention has been paid to the phenomenon of relatively low participation by Japanese women in the labor force, and the status of women in general in Japan. As a result, Abe recently tapped five woman to serve as ministers in his cabinet, but this renewed focus on “womenomics” was quickly derailed by a series of scandals involving four out of five of the female appointees, two of whom have since resigned in the last week. The resignation of Trade and Industry Minister Yuko Obuchi on October 20 is considered to be a blow to Abe's efforts to focus attention on economic revitalization and the status of women in Japan by pledging to fill 30 percent of management positions with women by 2020. Women on average account for just 6 percent of management positions. About half of Japanese companies don’t even have any female managers Obuchi, the daughter of the late and fondly remembered former Prime Minister Keizō Obuchi, was appointed to her post just a month before at the beginning of September. She was forced to resign after questions arose about how campaign staff were spending political funds. The second minister to resign in October, former Justice Minister Midori Matsushima, allegedly distributed custom-made uchiwa handheld fans to people attending a summer festivals in her Tokyo constituency. Giving voters even apparently insubstantial gratuities is against Japan's election laws. Now, just a few days after assuming his post, Obuchi's successor, new trade and industry Minister Yoichi Miyazawa, has been accused of misspending political funds. Miyazawa's fate will shed a light on how men and women are treated differently in politics in Japan. Shortly after Miyazawa assumed his post on October 20, it was alleged that members of Miyazawa's local constituency political support group in Hiroshima have claimed expenses for a trip to an S&M bar. Miyazawa claims he didn't know anything about it and in any event his staff haven't actually broken and rules, but social media has been quick to pounce on this juicy story: 地元秘書が行ったというけど秘書のせいにするのは常套手段。野党にはせめて「その秘書にお仕置きはしたのか」くらいの引っかけ質問してもらわないと。 “ＳＭバー問題” 宮沢経産相「国会でも説明していく」（TBS系（JNN）） – Y!ニュース http://t.co/3c3VgP3UV3 — 中野晃一 Koichi Nakano (@knakano1970) October 24, 2014 It's standard practice to make the local constituency assistant the fall guy. The opposition parties could get some traction by asking if Miyazawa's real intention was to “whip” his constituency assistant for some sort of mistake… “Trade and Economy Minister Miyazawa summoned to Diet to be questioned over S&M bar expense tab” (TBS, JNN, Yahoo! News) http://t.co/3c3VgP3UV3 It also turns out that Miyazawa, who as trade and industry minister now oversees Japan's power industry, also owns shares in Tepco, the largest utility in Japan: 日刊ゲンダイ|新経産相に東電株主…早くも「あり得ない人選だ」と異論噴出 http://t.co/ABEmweJE9O 宮沢洋一大臣（６４）に、早くも「脱原発派」から疑問の声が上がっている。なぜなら、宮沢大臣は党内屈指の東電株の保有者だからだ。 — 保坂展人 (@hosakanobuto) October 23, 2014 Nikkan Gendai reporting there is an eruption of criticism calling Miyazawa a “ridiculous choice” for trade and industry minister. http://t.co/ABEmweJE9O Anti-nuke campaigners are also raising questions about the integrity of Miyazawa (64).