Japan PM fires son after pictures emerge of ‘inappropriate’ private party at official residence | Japan

The eldest son of Fumio Kishida, the Japanese prime minister, is to resign as his executive policy secretary amid public outcry over his use of the leader’s official residence for a private party.

Photos published by the Shukan Bunshun weekly magazine showed Kishida’s son and his relatives posing or lying on the symbolically important red-carpeted stairs of the residence in an imitation of group photos of newly appointed cabinets. Kishida’s eldest son, Shotaro, is at the centre – the position reserved for the prime minister.

Other photos taken at the event on 30 December last year showed guests standing at a podium as if holding a news conference.

“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,” Kishida said on Monday night. He said his son would be replaced with another secretary, Takayoshi Yamamoto, on Thursday.

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The chief cabinet secretary, Hirokazu Matsuno, had earlier called the son’s party at the official residence “inappropriate” and promised to ensure proper management of the facility to prevent future misuse.

The nearly 100-year-old building previously was the prime minister’s office and became the living quarters in 2005 when a new office was built.

It is not the first time Kishida’s son has come under fire for making use of his official position for personal activities. He was reprimanded for using embassy cars for private sightseeing in Britain and Paris and for going shopping for souvenirs for cabinet members at a luxury department store in London when he accompanied his father on trips.

Kishida acknowledged that he had briefly greeted the guests at the event but said he didn’t stay at the dinner party.

He said he severely reprimanded his son over the party, but that failed to quell ongoing criticism from opposition lawmakers and public outrage, pushing down his support ratings.

Kishida appointed his son as policy secretary, one of eight secretary posts for the prime minister, in October. The appointment, seen as a step in grooming him as his heir, was criticised as nepotism, which is common in Japanese politics, long dominated by hereditary lawmakers. Shotaro was previously his father’s private secretary.