Japan's Justice Minister Minoru Yanagida announced resignation from his Cabinet post at a press conference on Monday to take responsibility for his recent comments widely seen as deriding his duty to respond to Diet questioning. Prime Minister Naoto Kan accepted his resignation in the morning.Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku will concurrently serve as the justice chief. The minister's resignation comes as the chief opposition Liberal Democratic Party was preparing for a censure motion against the 56-year-old DPJ member and threatening to delay passage of a 4.4 trillion yen (52.69 billion U.S. dollars) budget aimed at bolstering an economy hurt by deflation and a strong yen if he refused to resign. Yanagida became the first minister to step down since Kan reshuffled his Cabinet in mid-September shortly after winning reelection as Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) president.