LDP’s Koichi Hagiuda in Turmoil — Office Apologizes for X Blunder as Feud with Rival Turns into Criminal Complaint

Criminal complaint for defamation

“This staff member has been removed from account management duties, referred to a specialist physician, and placed on a period of leave.”

This explanation came from the official X (formerly Twitter) account of Koichi Hagiuda (61), a member of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

So what exactly happened?

The incident stemmed from a dispute with Moe Fukada, a businesswoman active on YouTube and other social media platforms.

Online, Fukada is said to have distributed flyers criticizing Hagiuda. Flyers circulating on X and other platforms feature Hagiuda’s photo along with statements such as:

“Pushed through opposition to the LGBT bill”

“Promoting Sasakawa LGBT toilets”

According to Hagiuda’s camp, they filed a criminal complaint for defamation, citing repeated slander and libel.

Fukada, on the other hand, has claimed she was criminally charged right after announcing her candidacy in the same district (Tokyo’s 24th) as Hagiuda for the upcoming House of Representatives election. She expressed outrage in a video, saying:

“Election interference using the police is unacceptable.”

The turning point came on June 2.

Hagiuda’s office posted a tweet along with an image of the flyer:

“Can inciting the distribution of such flyers truly be considered legitimate freedom of speech?”

A general user replied:

“Is the slush fund legitimate then? You can’t justify it by saying it was customary or normalized.”

The Hagiuda office account then responded in a notably casual and sarcastic tone:

“Why are you bringing up slush funds in a conversation about defamation? Is changing the subject part of the teachings of the Moe Fukada cult or something? This is seriously messed up.”

This unexpectedly sharp response triggered backlash online.

The person in charge had exceeded their mental limits

Fukada also responded to this incident:

“A slush fund lawmaker mistook his main account for his burner account and launched an online operation. Is this country really hiring internet operatives with our tax money?”

She further posted:

“After people started pointing out that the anti-comments might be coming from Hagiuda’s burner account, the number of antis suddenly dropped.”

In other words, she suggested that many of the past anti comments may have been written by Hagiuda’s own staff or those affiliated with him.

The accidental post from Hagiuda’s official account sparked a backlash online. In response, an apology was posted:

“We deeply apologize for the inappropriate post.”

The post continued, explaining:

“While this account is managed by multiple people, due to the burden of continuous phone correspondence, one staff member’s mental state reached its limit and they posted impulsively after phone duty ended. That staff member has been removed from account management duties, referred to a medical specialist, and is now on leave.”

The statement was issued under the name of Hagiuda Koichi’s chief secretary.

A TV variety program staff member noted:

“It seems like they’re trying to gain public sympathy by portraying the staff member as someone unwell. Perhaps they realized that deleting the accidental post and pretending it never happened would only fuel the backlash, so they opted for this strategy instead.”

When Fukada was asked by email whether she had made the flyers using Hagiuda’s image, she responded with the following:

“I made the post saying, ‘Mr. Koichi Hagiuda, thank you for taking the trouble to send a threatening letter to my office last year. I’ve kept it as a souvenir, as evidence that you misused the [LDP seal] for personal gain and privatized party power.’ I believe Mr. Hagiuda should clarify, since his explanations to the police and his explanations to the public on social media differ.”

She did not directly state whether she made the flyers.

Regarding whether she still plans to run in Tokyo’s 24th district, she said:

“I began preparations to run in the Tokyo 24th district about six months ago. On social media, it appears that someone has been monitoring the activities of me and my company’s employees, and these details are being anonymously posted to blogs and SNS. For some reason, these anonymous individuals go out of their way to defend Mr. Hagiuda, almost as if they were acquaintances. Perhaps that’s how Mr. Hagiuda learned of my candidacy plans and decided to suppress me using the police to interfere with the election.”

She gave no clear indication of whether her candidacy plans have changed.

While political activity is protected by freedom of expression, it is fundamentally different from defamation. Ultimately, the people will render judgment at the ballot box.