Behind the “Political Secretary but not at the Prime Minister’s Office at all” fiasco by Shoutaro Kishida, who is reported to have resigned.

On May 29, it was announced that Shoutarou, 32, the eldest son of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (65), will resign from his current position effective June 1. The prime minister made this clear. This comes just as the Shukan Bunshun (weekly magazine) reported that late last year, when Shoutarou held a year-end party with his relatives at the prime minister’s official residence, he took inappropriate photos in the official residence space.

Shoutarou had been the subject of various controversies, including sightseeing in his official car when he accompanied Prime Minister Kishida on a trip to the U.K. “Friday Digital” also reported that Shoutarou had been involved in a number of activities. Friday Digital has also been covering Shoutarou’s movements, but there were some “questionable behaviors” that we would like to recount in the following article published by Friday Digital on April 14 (some parts have been revised).

At the time of the local elections: ……

The article states, “Recently, Shoutarou Kishida, the political secretary, has not been entering the Prime Minister’s Office at all. There is a monitor in the Prime Minister’s Office that lights up when a political secretary enters the office, but Kishida’s name is not always lit up, and I only occasionally see him coming and going at the entrance of the office in the morning and in the evening.

I only sometimes see him coming and going at the entrance of the Prime Minister’s Office in the morning and evening,” said a major media reporter in the political section.

Takashi Shimada, 63, a parliamentary secretary, is basically at the PM residence because he is in overall charge, but his secretaries take turns being ‘accompanying secretaries’ every day. He accompanies Prime Minister Kishida when he goes out for dinner, but it is rare that Kishida accompanies him. He is basically acting ‘alone.

When he was hired in the fall of 2010, he was criticized as a “nepotistic hire” by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and when he accompanied Prime Minister Kishida on his visit to Europe and the United States in January of this year, it was reported that he was sightseeing in his official car, which caused a great deal of public criticism. One wonders if he was instructed to “hide” his own son so that he would not be put in the spotlight again at a naïve moment in terms of approval ratings. …… There was a reason why Shoutarou was away from the prime minister’s office.

A source in the LDP revealed that “Shoutarou was absent from the prime minister’s office for a little while.

He was visiting the offices of Prime Minister Kishida in his capacity as his deputy for the local elections. When the prime minister goes there, security has to be tight, and he has to coordinate with the police and the parliamentary party. It is part of the “job” for a political secretary to visit supporters with a candidate on behalf of the prime minister. However, to be clear, Shoutarou does not have strong personal connections or influence. I suspect he had some other role to play.”

The reason why Shoutarou did not disclose the details of his actions may be that he had something to be guilty of.