Former Secretary Reveals “Too Bad Work Environment” in the Office of Assemblyman Yasutoshi Nishimura

The leak of METI Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura’s “response manual” is causing a stir.

The manual in question detailed how Minister Nishimura was to handle his business trip, including the need for a baggage handler due to the extremely large amount of souvenirs purchased, the necessity of bringing a mobile printer, and the need to split into two groups: one to purchase lunch boxes and the other to purchase salad. After the leak, many media outlets covered the contents of the manual on a daily basis.

The manual in question spread quickly on Friday, August 26, when an LDP official circulated an A4 sheet of paper prepared by a bureaucrat in conjunction with an August 21 trip to Fukushima. Minister Nishimura’s difficult personality is widely known even in Nagata-cho. The problem is not so much the content of the form as the fact that it was leaked. The fact that internal documents that should never have been leaked were leaked shows Nishimura’s lack of popularity,” said a reporter from the political section of a national newspaper.

On September 9, the opposition parties even held a “national hearing” on the manual. They called METI bureaucrats to the Diet and questioned them about the contents of the manual.

Kishida’s approval rating has dropped to an unprecedented level due to the Unification Church issue and his opposition to the state funeral. From the opposition’s point of view, this is the time to go on the offensive. They probably wanted to appeal to voters by holding a hearing on Minister Nishimura’s manual.

In any case, Minister Nishimura probably did not anticipate that the issue would be viewed as such a problem. However, some within the LDP are saying that this is “rust from the inside.

A veteran secretary of an LDP member who is well acquainted with the inner workings of Nishimura’s office revealed, “There are nine secretaries in Nishimura’s office.

There are nine secretaries in Nishimura’s office, and they all lament that they are ‘overwhelmed by the extraordinary workload. At work, the secretaries are crammed into four desks. Even so, they cannot keep up with their work. It is even said sarcastically within the party that ‘anyone who has worked as a secretary in Nishimura’s office can work in any office.

Nishimura’s office is also known for its rapid turnover of secretaries. In addition to the enormous workload, the office is unusually strict about secretaries’ mistakes, and many of them cannot keep up. A former secretary recounts the severity of the office.

A former secretary recounted the severity of the situation: “If I had to describe Nishimura-san’s character in a nutshell, I would say that he is a person who is good at his job but does not understand his subordinates at all. He would call me even late at night to ask me when I was sleeping, and he would reprimand me. In the past, updating the blog was also the job of secretaries, but the council members themselves check almost everything. If they find a typo or omission, they are immediately asked to correct it.

Furthermore, as a penalty for mistakes, they are required to go door-to-door to voters in their constituencies. We had to give them a report of our mistakes and visits, and sometimes the council members themselves were investigated unannounced to see if they had really visited the constituents. It is a vicious cycle that continues, where even just the workload is too much and they are mentally trapped, thereby increasing the number of mistakes. There is no doubt that they can do their jobs, so I wish they would have a little more compassion for others. ……”

However, it is not only secretaries who are subjected to this harshness. In his daily interviews, he sometimes has a cold attitude toward reporters from major media outlets.

He has a very strong sense of elitism, which is typical of members of the Diet who come from the bureaucracy. It is not uncommon for them to treat or ignore reporters who ask questions they don’t agree with. There is no small amount of dissatisfaction with Minister Nishimura among the reporters in Nagatacho,” said a veteran secretary.

At a press conference following the leak of the manual, Minister Nishimura stated, “I told the clerks that there was no need to prepare such a text without excessive care. I think you should look at your own conduct before giving instructions to the clerical staff. ……