JAPAN: Following a Japanese magazine published images of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s son Shotaro and family members posing in the PM’s official residence at an end-of-year party, the leader fired his son as a government aide.
A resurrecting debate about the mixing of political and family ties in Japan has earlier surfaced.
In addition to supporting it as a home, the residence doubles as a public building for government operations. Nevertheless, a poll conducted by the centre-left newspaper implies that many Japanese voters are against the Kishida relatives holding holiday dinners at the residence.
Kishida said, “His actions last year in a public space were inappropriate, and I decided to replace him to have him take responsibility. Of course, the responsibility for his appointment lies with me, and I take the issue seriously.”
Additionally, according to the authorities, his son will forfeit any bonuses and severance money.
After the Shukan Bunshun magazine published the photos, which were taken in December, last week, the prime minister announced on Monday that his 32-year-old son would be replaced.
One picture showed a visitor lying across a flight of grand red carpet stairs, and another spotlighted two guests posing in front of a dais bearing the prime minister’s seal while one of them made a peace sign.
In a different photo, the son and about ten other people are shown standing on a broad staircase in a way that “evokes the commemorative photos taken by new Cabinet members at the time of the formation of the Cabinet,” the magazine wrote. While asserting that data about the party came from a friend of Shotaro Kishida, it did not say how it got the pictures.
When Fumio Kishida nominated his son as a policy secretary in October, opposition MPs accused him of nepotism. He responded that the appointment was about “putting the right person in the right place.”
Another accusation was made that the PM’s son had used a government vehicle to go sightseeing and shopping while on a foreign trip with him in January. He defended his son against the claim and said his son was purchasing mementoes and gifts for the government.
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