Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Monday his son is resigning as his executive policy secretary to take responsibility for using the prime minister’s residence for a private party at which the merrymaking was exposed in magazine photos that triggered public outrage.
Shotaro Kishida, his father’s executive secretary for political affairs and eldest son, invited a group of people including relatives to a year-end party on Dec 30 at the Prime Minister’s Official Residence.
Photos published by the weekly Shukan Bunshun magazine showing Kishida’s son and his relatives posing on red-carpeted stairs in an imitation of the group photos taken of newly appointed Cabinets, with his son at the center — the position reserved for the prime minister. Other photos 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 told reporters Monday night. He said his son will be replaced with another secretary, Takayoshi Yamamoto, on Thursday.