Inappropriate Local Gathering of LDP

A local organization of ruling Liberal Democratic Party held an “inappropriate gathering” in a hotel in Wakayama city last November. According to the news reports, female dancers with scanty dress appeared in the dining party after a conference and had some contacts with the attendees. Two leaders of LDP Youth Division who were there resigned as directors. Young members added another scandal to the party ailing with prolonged scandal of slush fund. 

The conference was an ordinary meeting of young members of LDP in Kinki bloc. Hosted by the youth division of LDP Wakayama branch, the meeting was held with attendance of 30 to 40 people, including Director of Youth Division in Tokyo headquarters, Takashi Fujiwara and his deputy, Yasutaka Nakasone. Most of attendees were the members of local assemblies in Kinki region.

 

After the conference, they had a dinner banquet, which was not strange for any conference, and the dancing women appeared as an attraction. An assembly member of Wakayama prefecture, Tetsuya Kawabata, who prepared that attraction as the host, explained, saying “We invited those dancers from Wakayama, considering diversity or impact.” He did not explain why the dancers waring scanty dress represented diversity, as far as news media reported.

 

What made the matter serious was attendance of two national lawmakers, Fujiwara and Nakasone. They invited public criticisms on why they did not stop the attraction. Staying in the party and watching the show meant that they approved that exhibition. “It was an inappropriate behavior and caused distrust of the people. I apologize for it,” told Fujiwara. Fujiwara and Nakasone resigned as the leaders of Youth Division of LDP as soon as it was reported broadly. The party appointed a female lawmaker, Takako Suzuki, for the replacement of Fujiwara.

 

Party leaders criticized the attraction in the meeting in Wakayama. “It was extremely inappropriate, deviating from the purpose of social gathering,” said the chairman of LDP General Council, Hiroshi Moriyama. It was reported that some attendees of the attraction gave the dancer money bills as gratuity from mouth to mouth. “It was different from the society with respect for diversity, which the government aims, in both terms of context and dimension,” said female Minister for Measures for Declining Birthrate, Ayuko Kato. “There is a problem of insufficient diversity of party organization in the background of this issue.”

 

LDP is facing overwhelming criticisms over slush fund scandal. While LDP Deputy Secretary General, Hiroshi Kajiyama, announced that no public fund was used for the meeting, it is difficult to prove that any allowance from the government to the party was never spent for the event. This inappropriate local event may have represented obsolete and androcentric nature of the party.

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