<figure id="attachment_456052" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-456052" style="width: 1108px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="44b938db"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/02/fe7b2dddff1fce6e0fed68fcfbeaade5.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-456052" class="wp-caption-text">Tomiko Kitanoya (right) and Mr. A. The two are believed to have met through the local Junior Chamber of Commerce (JC).</figcaption></figure>
<h3> Close to the &#8220;Don of the Liberal Democratic Party&#8221;&#8230;</h3>
 On the morning of January 29, in the midwinter general election, Tomiko Kitanoya, 41, a new candidate of the People&#8217;s Democratic Party of Japan, held a microphone at a major road intersection in Shizuoka&#8217;s 7th Constituency, which includes the area around Lake Hamana on the western edge of Shizuoka Prefecture and mountainous areas, including parts of Hamamatsu City.
 She said, &#8220;There is a big, big barrier in Ward 7: the incumbent minister. But what I am fighting against is not the wall of a minister. I am fighting against a huge burden that threatens the lives of the people (among others). Please, everyone, share with Tomiko Kitanoya the strength to fight against that wall.&#8221;
 While being conscious of LDP Growth Strategy Minister Minoru Kouchi (60), who has been elected seven times in this constituency, Kitanoya appealed for the signature policies of the KDP, which would reduce taxes and other burdens, and increase the take-home pay of the people. Meanwhile, a rumor had been whispered about her among political circles in the prefecture for at least a year.
 We asked Ms. Kitanoya, who had just finished her first town hall speech that day, about the truth.
 &#8211;Mr. Kitanoya, this is FRIDAY.
 Ah, yes.&#8221;
 &#8211;I heard that you are having an affair with Mr. A.
 Ah. (Smiles.) Ah.&#8221;
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 &#8211;Do you have any factual information about it?
 No, I don&#8217;t have any. No, I don&#8217;t, but it seems he took a picture of me. Of the back.&#8221;
 &#8211;Is this a picture of the two of you walking together (with Mr. A)?
 Yes, yes, yes. That was also taken on the way to a meeting of the Junior Chamber of Commerce.
 &#8211;Did the circulation of those pictures spread rumors of an affair?
 Yes, that&#8217;s right. I have not denied it in public either. If you ask me formally like this, I will answer. I have not officially announced anywhere that we are not in such a relationship. Well, well, I&#8217;ve left it as it is.
 &#8211;I heard that you have been in a relationship with Mr. A for about four years and that it is still ongoing. Is this not true?
 No, not at all. That is absolutely not true.
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 Mr. Kitanoya categorically denied the allegations of infidelity that had befallen him. This magazine also obtained a photograph that appears to have been the source of the allegations, but this alone certainly does not support the affair. However, as we proceeded with our investigation, we found new photos and evidence that would make it impossible to take Mr. Kitanoya&#8217;s explanation at face value.
 After graduating from a commercial high school in Hamamatsu City, Ms. Kitanoya was chosen as &#8220;Miss Hamakita,&#8221; a pageant promoting local tourism. After working as a cell phone salesman, she was first elected to the Hamamatsu City Council in 2003.
 Kitanoya continued to serve on the city council until January 20, just prior to the announcement of this general election. As a city councilor, I had the impression that he was cheerful and active, but there were some words and actions that made me want to raise my eyebrows. At a get-together among city council members, he was seen by many of the city council members present to sit in the LDP don&#8217;s chair together and get close to his body.
 During the &#8217;24 general election, he went around apologizing to all concerned when it was discovered that he had gone to a speech in support of a candidate of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan on the same day while absent from the city council meeting due to poor health&#8221; (reporter from the political section of a local newspaper).
 Mr. Kitanoya joined the National Democratic Party of Japan in February 1925. In March of the same year, the Shizuoka Prefectural Federation of the KDP elected Mr. Kitanoya as the general branch chief of the 7th Constituency (a candidate in the general election), but just before this, he was said to have caused trouble.
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Oh, I miss him so much!"></div>
<figure id="attachment_456086" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-456086" style="width: 869px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="eb703934"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/02/6921d267555d04b263ba8e909f3a999d.jpeg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-456086" class="wp-caption-text">LINE communication between the two. Mr. A is on the right and Mr. Kitanoya is on the left. The two are quite close.</figcaption></figure>
<h3> I miss him so much!</h3>
 As early as January of the same year, Mr. Kitanoya had been in contact with persons concerned in order to run in the next general election for the then Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (Rikken Democrats). The Rikken-Democrats were also moving in earnest toward retaining Kitanoya, and talks had reached the party headquarters. However, Mr. Kitanoya suddenly said, &#8220;I&#8217;m declining. I want to run for the KDP,&#8217; and he cut off the Rikken Democrats,&#8221; said a former party member.
 During this period, Kitanoya experienced marriage, childbirth, and divorce. She said that her surname &#8220;Kitanoya&#8221; was her ex-husband&#8217;s surname, and she fulfilled her role as a city councilor while raising a child.
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 She is believed to have met Mr. A around 2010, when she joined the local Junior Chamber (JC), a group of young business owners that engages in mutual exchange and community service activities.
 Mr. A is a businessman who runs a painting business, and he also served as a director and other important positions in the JC, Since then, their fourth child has also been born&#8221; (an acquaintance of Mr. A).
 This magazine obtained a two-shot photo of Mr. Kitanoya and Mr. A, who is supposed to have a wife and child, taken in the manner of a selfie.
 The timing of the photo is unknown, but we have heard that it was taken during a trip they took together to Kyoto. In addition, Mr. A likes Okinawa and often dined with Ms. Kitanoya at a tavern called &#8216;Y&#8217; in Hamamatsu City that serves Okinawan cuisine. It is said that Mr. A took his family on a trip to Okinawa, and shortly after he returned home, he went to Okinawa again, this time with Mr. Kitanotani.
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 The magazine also has a photo that appears to be from the couple&#8217;s trip to Okinawa. The two men, wearing wet suits and perhaps after enjoying marine sports, are pictured sitting on a pavilion-like bench, with Mr. Kitano-tani making a peace sign with his left hand and Mr. A making the aloha sign with his thumb and pinky finger raised.
 In addition, a separately obtained LINE exchange between Mr. Kitanoya and Mr. A shows the intimacy between the two that goes beyond their activities at JC.
 It was probably around this time that their relationship began to deepen, when Mr. Kitanoya said, &#8220;Oh no. I&#8217; vespent a lot of time with Mr. Fukko,&#8221; Mr. A replied, &#8220;I&#8217;ve enjoyed spending time with him. Mr. A asked, &#8220;Did you move on in your love life? Mr. Kitanoya replied, &#8220;I&#8217;ll do my best so that Mr. A will choose me. (Emojis omitted. Same below).
 The exchange of LINE messages on another day shows how the two men&#8217;s feelings for each other were beginning to overlap. When Mr. A murmured , &#8220;Oh, I miss you,&#8221; Mr. Kitanoya responded, &#8220;I miss you so much,&#8221; and they sent each other matching emoji characters.
 As mentioned at the beginning of this article, rumors about Mr. Kitanoya&#8217;s infidelity had been spreading among some people in the political world. Therefore, as of March 2013, the National Democratic Party of Japan, which had decided to field Kitanoya in the next general election, was in the process of interviewing him.
 A source within the KDP revealed.
 Mr. Kitanoya has admitted to the prefectural federation that he had an affair in the past, but he explained that the other party was not Mr. A. However, he explained that the other party was not Mr. A. He said that he had made a mistake with Mr. B, a representative of an architectural firm in the prefecture, and that Mr. Kitanoya had paid compensation to Mr. B&#8217;s wife to settle the relationship.
 This was also known to Mr. Haruha Gatsuya, secretary general of the party headquarters (elected in the Shizuoka constituency of the House of Councillors), who spoke rather appreciatively, saying, &#8216;She was honest about it.
 According to the combined testimony of several KMT officials, Kitanoya claims to the KMT that she has cleared up her past affair with Mr. B, while stubbornly denying any relationship with Mr. A.
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Wearing a mini-skirt and loose socks, JK..."></div>
<figure id="attachment_456053" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-456053" style="width: 1203px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="7ad96abb"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/02/7852e6c06b41b38b28964dd028e38041.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-456053" class="wp-caption-text">A photo from the &#8220;graduation ceremony&#8221; of the Hamanako Junior Chamber of Commerce in &#8217;24. Mr. A is in the center of the photo with Mr. Kitanoya &#8220;dressed as a JK&#8221; (image from Mr. Kitanoya&#8217;s Instagram).</figcaption></figure>
<h3> &#8216;Properly include lawyers, and settle the case.&#8217;</h3>
 RENGO Shizuoka, a labor union affiliated with the National Democratic Party of Japan and other supporting organizations, has endorsed Mr. Kitanoya in this general election. In making its recommendation, RENGO Shizuoka also interviewed Kitanoya.
 RENGO Shizuoka was traumatized by reports of infidelity involving Shinnosuke Yamazaki, then a member of the upper house of the National Democratic Party of Japan, whom they had endorsed in the supplementary election for the upper house five years ago. He was apparently nervous about rumors about Kitanoya because of this, but Kitanoya said, &#8216;The reckoning (of the affair) is over. After that, I don&#8217;t have any problems between men and women,&#8217; etc. He explained, &#8216;I don&#8217;t care if it appears in the weekly magazines. He was very bullish throughout, saying, &#8216;I&#8217;ve already factored that in.
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 In a direct interview with Mr. Kitanoya on January 29, we also asked him about his affair with Mr. B. The following is the story of his affair with Mr. B.
 &#8211;Is there any talk of an affair with Mr. B?
 Mr. Kitanoya replied, &#8220;Yes, there was an affair with Mr. B. It is true that there was an affair with Mr. B once. Well, we had a settlement with a lawyer.
 &#8211;Did you pay him alimony?
 Yes, that&#8217;s right. Yes, I did. Officially, I did.
 &#8211;There was a mistake at least once.
 Yes. I told that to Mr. Haruha, the secretary-general, and this time, even I, well, how should I say it, he agreed to approve it. Yes.&#8221;
 &#8211;Mr. Haiba also understood about the past infidelity.
 Yes.
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 &#8211;Both Mr. Tamaki (Yuichiro Tamaki, representative of the KDP) and Mr. Haiba have had their past problems with women written about in the weekly magazines. The KDP has a scar on its shin &#8230;&#8230;.
 Please don&#8217;t talk like that (laughs). Well, still, I am grateful to this party for giving me such a chance, and yes.&#8221;
 &#8211;Again, you and Mr. A have no male-female relationship?
 Yes, I do. You can have them follow you. Ha ha ha.&#8221;
 &#8211;Can you explain this properly when asked by a voter?
 Yes.&#8221;
 When we asked the Kitano Tani office in writing about their relationship with Mr. A and Mr. B, they responded as follows
 I cannot answer your question because it concerns the privacy of Kitano Tani and third parties, and Kitano Tani&#8217;s own answer may cause inconvenience to third parties.
 We also called Mr. A several times on his cell phone to inquire about his relationship with Kitanoya, but he did not respond to any of our calls.
 The KDP has made remarkable progress in the 2012 general election and the 2013 Upper House election under the slogan, &#8220;Increase the take-home pay,&#8221; and Mr. Kitanoya is aware of this. Ms. Kitanoya seems to be aware of this, and has reportedly told those around her that she &#8220;may be able to win back her seat in the proportional elections&#8221; in this general election.
 It will be up to the voters to decide whether or not she is suitable for national office.
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 Interview and text by Naoyuki Miyashita (nonfiction writer)
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<figure id="attachment_456054" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-456054" style="width: 869px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="f0e91381"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/02/60807bbcb9dee575592e2a9fa1258afa.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-456054" class="wp-caption-text"> LINE exchange between Mr. Kitanoya and Mr. A. The relationship seems to be gradually deepening.</figcaption></figure>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" More photos and LINEs"></div>
<figure id="attachment_456055" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-456055" style="width: 1477px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="72c971ac"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/02/486aabf3fc77bc27c54631c2131a4173.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-456055" class="wp-caption-text">Photo of two people believed to have been taken in Kyoto</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_456085" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-456085" style="width: 587px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="3d8f434f"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/02/339b2d8ef5a56ec52d9ab5182e3d2eef.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-456085" class="wp-caption-text"> Photographs that were initially circulated among local political circles that appeared to be of Mr. Kitanoya and Mr. A. The photos and LINE exchanges that emerged in the course of our interviews are as described above.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_456056" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-456056" style="width: 869px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="d78a0061"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/02/0b867e7b5ba9f71ff5041d0baa661c6c.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-456056" class="wp-caption-text"> Line exchange between the two men. Again, Mr. A is a married man.</figcaption></figure>

 Naoyuki Miyashita, nonfiction writer

 In the morning of January 29, a new candidate of the People's Democratic Party of Japan, Tomiko Kitanoya (北野谷富子), was elected in the Shizuoka 7th Constituency (including parts of Hamamatsu City), which includes the area around Lake Hamana on the western edge of Shizuoka Prefecture and mountainous regions of the prefecture. Kitanoya

The KDP female candidate for the House of Representatives election is facing “allegations of adultery” and “two-shot photos”.

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