Prime Minister Fumio Kishida immediately moved to dismiss a close aide who made discriminatory remarks about the LGBT community, but the incident still deals a serious blow to his administration.
Kishida's decision to replace executive secretary Masayoshi Arai was aimed at showing that Arai's remarks were unacceptable and that his beliefs are completely in opposition to those of the government.
Arai made remarks on Friday evening in Tokyo during unofficial talks with the media. Asked about Kishida's cautious view on legalizing same-sex marriage, Arai replied: I would hate it if a same-sex couple lived next to me. I would hate to even see them On Saturday evening, a stern Kishida told reporters: I made the decision to remove him from his duties as an executive secretary to the prime minister. Arai told me of his intention to resign. Arai was a member of the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry. After high school, he took an unorthodox path to becoming a career bureaucrat. Arai became a rising star in the ministry and was backed by Takashi Shimada, a former vice- - economy minister who is now chief executive secretary to Kishida.
Arai was a trusted aide to Kishida and served as his speechwriter.
His remarks were simply unacceptable. According to a source, Kishida told aides that what Arai said was terrible, with absolutely no room for excuses and indefensible. The decision to resign Arai was set to be made on Friday night by the Prime Minister's Office.
On Saturday morning, Kishida spoke to reporters at his official residence. When asked whether he would dismiss Arai, the prime minister responded, I take it as such. Kishida s decision to dismiss Arai was due to his desire to minimize the impact on the Diet, where deliberations on the fiscal 2023 budget proposal are underway.
The prime minister wants to improve his Cabinet's approval rating, which plummeted last year with the resignation of four ministers. One of the people who resigned was economic revitalization minister Daishiro Yamagiwa, who was criticized for his relationship with the Unification Church, officially known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.
Kishida had been trying to turn the tide by tackling a series of difficult issues since the beginning of the year. Kishida plans to launch countermeasures on an unprecedented scale to deal with the declining birthrate. He also announced the downgrading of the legal status of COVID - 19.
One after another problem has emerged at the Prime Minister's Office. Kishida's 32-year-old son Shotaro, executive secretary to the prime minister for political affairs, is suspected of going sightseeing in an official vehicle during an overseas visit by Kishida. Hirokazu Matsuno's brother-in- law resigned as Matsuno's policy affairs secretary after driving under the influence of alcohol.
Members of the Liberal Democratic Party expressed frustration over the problems. The latest case, Kishida s close aides are holding him back, an LDP member said.
On Saturday, Jun Azumi, chairman of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, spoke to reporters in Aomori. Azumi said that was an extremely discriminatory opinion. We need to ask Kishida why a person who made such comments was kept as his secretary for so long. We want to hold him accountable for his appointment. Azumi's LDP counterpart Tsuyoshi Takagi said: We are in the middle of Budget Committee deliberations and I m sure the opposition parties will ask questions about this. It is important for the government to reflect on the latest case and answer the questions.