Senior members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party engaged in finger-pointing and denials over an unanswered question in a vote-buying scandal that forced a political couple to leave both the party and the Diet.
Anri Kawai was found guilty of vote-buying through cash payments given to local politicians before she won an Upper House seat in the 2019 election. She resigned from the Diet in early February.
Her husband, Katsuyuki, a former justice minister and LDP lawmaker, pleaded guilty in late March to buying votes for her.
For Anri’s election campaign in Hiroshima Prefecture, LDP headquarters in Tokyo provided 150 million yen ($1.38 million), an unusually large sum for the party.
LDP team pushes for introduction of 4-day work week system : The Asahi Shimbun asahi.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from asahi.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga briefs reporters Feb. 26 on the decision to lift the COVID-19 state of emergency early for six prefectures. (Kotaro Ebara)
Health experts fear the government acted hastily and rashly in deciding to lift its COVID-19 state of emergency for six prefectures earlier than for four others in the greater Tokyo metropolitan area.
The government approved the decision on Feb. 26, the day its panel of experts met prior to a task force gathering that approved the lifting of the state of emergency for Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Aichi, Gifu and Fukuoka prefectures.
During the meeting that continued for an hour beyond schedule, a number of experts raised doubts about whether now was the right time to lift the curbs that have seen sharp declines in the daily number of people infected with the novel coronavirus.