Two senior members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s youth wing have resigned from their posts after reports surfaced that politicians and their supporters were being entertained by scantily clad dancers at a gathering in central Japan.
The party was organised in November for the youth division of the party in Wakayama Prefecture, and reportedly involved banknotes being inserted into dancers’ costumes, and mouth-to-mouth between dancers and participants.
Calls grow for Japan’s Kishida to fire minister over Unification Church ties
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The party confirmed that Takashi Fujiwara, 40, stepped down as director of the LDP’s Youth Division, along with Yasutaka Nakasone, 42, an acting director of the division.
Speaking to the media on Friday, Fujiwara said, “I apologise for my behaviour, which was inappropriate and undermined public trust.”
Renge Jibu, an associate professor specialising in gender and media studies at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, said she initially found it difficult to believe that politicians had taken part in such an event.
“It is unbelievably ridiculous,” she told This Week in Asia. “You could argue that decades ago these sorts of parties used to happen, but under the current standards expected in our society, this is completely unacceptable.”
It really is hard to believe this sort of thinking still exists
“It really is hard to believe this sort of thinking still exists,” she said.
According to reports in Japanese media quoting some of the approximately 40 people at the event – the theme of which was “diversity” – five female dancers appeared on stage on two occasions.
In an interview with All Nippon News, Tetsuya Kawahata, the head of the party’s Wakayama youth division and organiser of the event, admitted knowing the “intermediary” who arranged the dancers and was aware the event would include “go-go dancing.”
Asked if he or others had touched the dancers’ when inserting bank notes into their costumes, a flustered Kawahata said, “That’s a bit … I would need to recall the details.”
The news has attracted anger online, with one comment on the website of the right-leaning Sankei Shimbun declaring, “People like this should not be left in charge of national politics. The deterioration in politicians’ behaviour is severe.”
Another added, “Many of the recent scandals involving LDP members are being dismissed, with those taking part expressing ‘regret.’ This shameful gathering of the youth affairs division is not an issue that can simply be dismissed with ‘regret’.”
Hiromi Murakami, a professor of political science at the Tokyo campus of Temple University, says she fears this sort of incident is actually more pervasive than is reported in the media and “reflects a complete lack of awareness and understanding of diversity and respect for others.”
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Scandal erodes support for Japan PM Fumio Kishida’s cabinet
“We see this sort of thing happening with older generations of conservative, local politicians,” she said. “They have grown up in an environment that accepts this sort of behaviour, and they have just not caught up with modern society and do not acknowledge that this sort of thing is deeply inappropriate.
“To them, this is appropriate.”
On Sunday, a survey by Kyodo News showed support for Kishida has tumbled 4.4 percentage points to just 20.1 per cent in a month.
The decline was largely due to his handling of the party’s financial scandals and the perception among the public that party members are once again effectively getting away with a slap on the wrist for their actions. The poll was conducted before the incident in Wakayama Prefecture came to light.