Japan's State Minister for Economic and Fiscal Policy Akira Amari on Thursday said that he is suffering tongue cancer after days of checkups in hospital, adding he will not resign from the post.

Amari, who is also Japan's minister in charge of affairs related to the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade talks, also said that he will miss a TPP ministerial meeting to be held in Singapore from Saturday.

Yasutoshi Nishimura, a senior vice minister at the Cabinet Office, will attend the upcoming TPP talks on behalf of Amari, according to local media.

Amari told a press conference that the hospital told him that he should receive therapy for two weeks and then take a rest for another two weeks.

The Japanese government said that Amari was hospitalized on Monday for medical checkups, after the minister's meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman in Tokyo Sunday.

During Sunday's meeting, Amari said that they "had a very tense discussion on outstanding issues, but reached no conclusion," ruling out the possibility that Japan could make further concessions in the free trade talks.

Japan and the United States are at odds on tariffs of some agricultural produces which Japan sees as sensitive items like rice, wheat, pork and beef in the TPP free trade talks. Endi

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