Japan's justice minister, who was appointed just 18 days ago, is set to resign, media said on Friday, after he admitted having had links with organized crime.

Keishu Tanaka was brought into the cabinet less than three weeks ago as part of a reshuffle aimed at shoring up Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's shaky administration.

But he was forced to admit connections with Japanese organized crime, or yakuza, after a tabloid magazine revealed he had once acted as matchmaker for a senior mobster.