LDP lawmaker posts controversial tweet on sexual harassment

April 23, 2018

Tokyo- A lawmaker of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party has tweeted that female lawmakers of opposition parties in photographs protesting alleged sexual harassment by the top Finance Ministry bureaucrat are "those with little such chance," it was learned Monday.

The lawmaker, Takashi Nagao of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, the nation's parliament, has deleted the post after facing a backlash and later apologized on his blog, saying, "Deep apologies for those who appear in the photos."

"I was unable to resist feeling strong anger when I saw lawmakers boycotting Diet deliberations and protesting," Nagao explained, referring to opposition party members who are criticizing Vice Finance Minister Junichi Fukuda for denying sexual harassment even after TV Asahi Corp. claimed last week that one of its female employees was a victim of his harassment.

Kiyomi Tsujimoto, Diet affairs chief of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, told reporters that she knew there are people lacking sensitivity to sexual harassment in the LDP.

"The issue of the vice finance minister is just a tip of the iceberg," Tsujimoto said. Jiji Press