Japan's opposition urges vice PM to step down over Nazi remarks

Several Japanese opposition parties demanded that Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso step down or be dismissed over his remarks on following the suit of Nazi Germany to quietly revise the country's constitution in a joint statement issued on Wednesday.

Aso "seriously damaged international confidence in Japan with unacceptable language that condoned Nazism and leaves no room for excuses," local media reported, citing the statement.

The statement, which issued by the main opposition the Democratic Party of Japan and other four small oppositions of Your Party, the Japanese Communist Party, People's Life Party and the Social Democratic Party, said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bears the responsibility for appointing him as a cabinet minister, Kyodo News reported.

However, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference that Aso has retracted his remarks and expressed regret so that the outspoken vice prime minister, also Japan's finance minister, has no need to quit.

Natsuo Yamaguchi, head of Japan's small ruling New Komeito Party, on Monday asked cabinet ministers to pay attention to their remarks, in apparent reference to Aso's improper remarks.

Aso said in a speech July 29 that Japan needs to imitate Nazi German regime, which changed the Weimar Constitution quietly, to revise the country's current pacifist constitution.

The remark drew international condemnations, which forced the outspoken vice prime minister to retract his statement on Aug. 1.