The move comes amid public outrage over photos of a party the younger Kishida held at the prime minister’s official office in December.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said he will remove his son as executive secretary amid growing public outrage over a private party held at his official residence last year.
Kishida told reporters on Monday that his son, Shotaro, would step down as executive secretary for political affairs due to “inappropriate behavior.”
The move came after the weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun published photos showing Kishida’s son and his relatives at the prime minister’s official residence attending a New Year’s party on December 30.
The photos showed guests posing on red-carpeted stairs in imitation of group photos taken of newly appointed cabinets, with the younger Kishida in the center, the position reserved for the prime minister.
Other photos showed the guests standing on a podium as if holding a press conference.
“His behavior in a public space was inappropriate as someone who holds an official position as a political aide. I have decided to replace him for accountability,” Kishida told reporters on Monday night.
He said his son will be replaced by another secretary, Takayoshi Yamamoto, on Thursday.
Kishida acknowledged that he had briefly greeted guests, but said he did not stay for the dinner.
He said he severely reprimanded his son for the event, but that failed to quell continued criticism from opposition lawmakers and public outrage, which have pushed his approval ratings down.
Shotaro Kishida was political secretary to his father, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida [File: JIJI Press/AFP]
Seiji Osaka, a senior lawmaker from Japan’s largest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, said the dismissal should have come sooner, Kyodo news agency reported.
“That’s too late. I suspect [Kishida] appointed someone incapable [of being the] assistant prime minister in office,” Osaka said.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno previously called the son’s party at the official residence “inappropriate” and pledged to ensure proper management of the facility to prevent future misuse.
The nearly 100-year-old building was once the prime minister’s office and became home in 2005 when a new office was built.
Kishida appointed his son as policy secretary, one of eight prime ministerial secretary posts, in October. The appointment, seen as a step to groom him as his heir, was criticized as nepotism, which is common in Japanese politics, long dominated by hereditary lawmakers.
Shotaro Kishida was previously his father’s private secretary.
It was not the first time that Kishida’s son was criticized for using his official position for private activities. He was reprimanded for using embassy cars for private sightseeing in Britain and Paris and for buying souvenirs for cabinet members at a luxury department store in London when he accompanied his father on trips.
Kishida has also lost four ministers in three months over allegations of financial irregularities or links to the controversial Unification Church.
