Tomu Tanigawa’s Divorce Remarks Under Fire Amid Ex-Wife’s Arrest for Corona Loan Scam

On April 5th, during deliberations at the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee on the proposed amendment to the Civil Code introducing joint custody after divorce, Liberal Democratic Party member Tamagawa Tomu remarked,

“Unless there are exceptional circumstances, well, if there is no domestic violence or abuse, it’s healthier for society to make divorce difficult,” 

“No one benefits from divorce. For the sake of the children, I believe it’s better to have a society where divorce is difficult.” 

This sparked controversy both among opposition parties and online, with opinions divided.

Tamagawa has previously stirred controversy during an appearance on AbemaTV in 2018 when discussing same-sex marriage, stating, 

“I don’t deny diversity, but there is no need to legalize it. (Homosexuality) is like a hobby.”

“Tamagawa is one of the lawmakers aiming for constitutional revision. Images and articles resurfaced on X and other platforms showing Tamagawa attending meetings of organizations affiliated with the former Unification Church, leading to criticism such as ‘I knew it’ and ‘He’s a pot lawmaker.’ There has been talk about the similarity between the ideology of the Unification Church and Tamagawa’s beliefs, which has made him suspicious,” says a television station reporter.

However, despite advocating for a society where divorce is difficult, Tamagawa himself remarried a civilian woman in 2018 and has two children. Interestingly, his first spouse was somewhat famous.

On November 4th, 2014, he posted on social media:

“I have married Mika Yoshiba. Starting with a video letter from Prime Minister Abe, and Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Hirokazu Matsuno kindly attended and gave us his congratulations despite his busy schedule.”

It is written as follows.

Yoshiba, known for being the former city councilor of Neyagawa City, who was prosecuted for exploiting the loan system of the independent administrative agency “Welfare Medical Organization” (Tokyo) from 2020 to 2021, deceiving approximately 291.4 million yen from medical corporations, and was also known for publishing a photo book as the too beautiful city councilor.

Representative Tamagawa married Yoshiba in 2014, and their first son was born in 2015. They divorced in 2016.

“When divorcing, Yoshiba claimed on her blog that ‘there was verbal and economic domestic violence from Mr. Tamagawa.’ However, Mr. Tamagawa refuted, ‘There was no domestic violence whatsoever. I never raised a hand to her or had any extramarital affairs. I even gave her my credit cards.’ It remains questionable why Mr. Tamagawa, who has found happiness in starting a new life after divorce, would argue for a ‘society where divorce is difficult,'” says a women’s magazine reporter.

In addition to the COVID loan fraud, Yoshiba promoted a virtual currency called “TOS” on her blog in 2017. She claimed it was associated with Samsung and Toyota and hyped it as a groundbreaking revelation, but it was revealed to be entirely fabricated, leading to severe criticism. She immediately deleted the blog.

Furthermore, Yoshiba allegedly established a company called Potential and sponsored the mixed martial arts event “RIZIN,” displaying a level of wealth that is unusual for a local city councilor.

Although arrested, photos of Yoshiba are still posted on the company’s Instagram account.

Representative Tamagawa and Yoshiba, the former couple, are now living separate lives. The more one learns about them, the more it raises questions about divorce and its complexities.