After public indignation over his use of the Prime Minister’s official house for a private party, Shotaro Kishida, 32, was sacked as his father’s executive policy assistant.
Last week’s Shukan Bunshun weekly magazine photos featured Kishida’s kid with relatives on red-carpeted stairs like freshly appointed Cabinet members.
Shotaro stood in the pictures where the Prime Minister usually does. Other photographs showed visitors having news conferences at the Prime Minister’s podium. The magazine says the images were shot on Dec. 30 last year.
Prime Minister Kishida apologized to local media Monday and said his son will be replaced as secretary on June 1. “As secretary for (the prime minister’s) political affairs, a public position, his actions were inappropriate and I decided to replace him to have him take responsibility,” he said.
Japanese politics are roiled by a gratuitous house party.
Since becoming Prime Minister in 2021, Kishida has faced problems, including his party’s connections to the infamous South Korean Unification Church and its Moonies. Kishida’s son’s mishap dampened his political high after Japan hosted the G7 conference.
According to a nationwide poll by Asahi, 76% of Japanese respondents believed Kishida’s son’s gathering was an issue, and opposition parties used the incident to stoke public outrage and weaken support for the Japanese leader.
Kishida’s eldest son has been in trouble before. The younger Kishida, who traveled with the Prime Minister to G7 nations earlier this year, utilized government automobiles to sightsee in London and Paris. Shotaro Kishida was criticized for purchasing Cabinet member’s trinkets on such occasions, but the Prime Minister said he paid for them.
The controversy rekindled Japanese political nepotism. In October, Kishida elevated his son, his private secretary, to government. According to Kenta Izumi, president of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Kishida’s son’s nomination “had a strong element of intermingling public and private interests.”
Jeff Kingston, head of Asian studies at Tokyo Temple University, believes Kishida will survive the backlash. “[Prime Minister Kishida] has weathered losing several Cabinet ministers, getting whacked by the Moonies scandal, popularity rating plummeting, and he has recovered, clawed his way back,” he remarked.
Kingston believes Japan’s public is immune to such scandals since numerous of Kishida’s predecessors, including Yoshihide Suga and the slain Shinzo Abe, were embroiled in similar scandals.
Kingston added, “Many Japanese politicians are guilty of far more egregious offenses than this that harm the public interest. “This son was in over his head. His father promoted his political career. That seems dead, at least for now.”
