<figure id="attachment_459086" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-459086" style="width: 980px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="4fea6d65"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/02/62d07008cb6c41f4580b73f69163db81.png" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-459086" class="wp-caption-text">House of Representatives Representative Megumi Maekawa, who was reportedly having an affair when she was elected for the first time</figcaption></figure>
<h2><span class="strongInContent"> Alleged affair with Councilor Toshinao Nakagawa</span></h2>
<p> The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), buoyed by the overwhelming popularity of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (64), won the recent general election with 316 seats. In the midst of this, attention has focused on those who ran as proportional candidates without electoral districts and were elected.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The most notable candidate in the proportional-lone group is Nagisa Muraki, who was elected for the first time at the young age of 25 from the proportional Hokkaido bloc. His father is a member of the Hokkaido Assembly, and when he was a student he was the head of the student section of the LDP Hokkaido Branch Union. That was the reason he decided to run for office, but even he was surprised that he won,&#8221; said a reporter for a national newspaper.</span></p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p> (A reporter for a national newspaper) &#8220;His ranking on the list was 14th, which would have made it difficult for him to win the election. However, the LDP, riding the Takaichi whirlwind, won a major victory in the primary election, and the seat was given to her as well.</p>
<p> Although hidden behind the &#8220;youngest councilor,&#8221; there is a &#8220;disturbing councilor&#8221; who ran for the proportional seat alone and has been wearing the badge of councilor for some time. One such &#8220;disturbing lawmaker&#8221; is Megumi Maekawa (50), who was elected in the Kita-Kanto bloc in the proportional election.</p>
<p> Maekawa was first elected in 2002 as a candidate for the Tokyo bloc alone. However, in the &#8217;17 general election, she ran for the Tokyo bloc as the sole proportional candidate, as she had done in the previous election, and was unsuccessful. In 2009, he moved to the Tohoku bloc and ran for a single proportional seat, but was also unsuccessful.</p>
<p> This time, he moved to the Northern Kanto Bloc and ran as a proportional candidate, and although he was the 35th candidate to win the election, he was successful in winning the seat, and was able to hold the badge for the first time in nine years.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> When he was first elected in 2002, Maekawa was questioned by the media about constitutional revision, to which he replied, &#8220;I don&#8217;t know. She answered, &#8216;I don&#8217;t know. No comment,&#8217; and was bashed. But what probably made her even more famous than that was the scandal in &#8217;17 about her alleged affair with then-Rep. Toshinao Nakagawa, who had a wife and child.</span></p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p> Nakagawa is the son of Hidenao Nakagawa, who served as chief cabinet secretary and party secretary general, and was a thoroughbred who attracted attention in the political world as his &#8220;heir. However, in addition to the allegations of an affair with Senator Maekawa, scandals followed, including a bigamy scandal with another woman and allegations of stalking. Eventually, the LDP gave up on him, and in the 2009 general election, he was disqualified and ran as an independent candidate, but was unsuccessful, finishing last out of four candidates. He has not returned to the Diet since then.</p>
<p> When Mr. Nakagawa was still a member of the Diet, he was in an uproar over allegations of an affair with Senator Maekawa. In February 2005, FRIDAY witnessed Mr. Nakagawa going to the apartment that Senator Maekawa uses as his office. It also reported two shots of them enjoying a meal at a café together.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Senator Maekawa was elected for the second time. ......"></div>
<div class="expapp-yahoo-paragraph-break"></div>
<figure id="attachment_459102" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-459102" style="width: 3375px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="dc6b7a95"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/02/419615e61fd620eefd23f33338fbd3fe-1.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-459102" class="wp-caption-text">Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi led the Liberal Democratic Party to a landslide victory</figcaption></figure>
<h2><span class="strongInContent"> Her chances of winning the election were close to zero.</span></h2>
<p> At the time, the Diet was in a state of confusion over the Moritomo Gakuen issue. The affair between the two LDP lawmakers further inflamed the public&#8217;s anger.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> At the time, Mr. Maekawa said that he had known Mr. Nakagawa before he became a Diet member and that he had consulted with him on various matters. He was adamant in his denial about the affair until the very end.</span></p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p> Maekawa was twice elected to the Diet as a proportional representative, a position that does not allow voters to cast their ballots directly. Why was Maekawa&#8217;s name listed four times in a row as the sole proportional candidate, despite the fact that it is difficult for him to be elected? &#8230;&#8230;</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The party headquarters considered the chances of either Mr. Maekawa or Mr. Muraki, who both won the proportional single-seat constituency this time, to be quite low. That&#8217;s why we have a list of people who are like a reserve army of legislators who won&#8217;t complain even if they fail,&#8221; said one LDP official.</span></p>
<p> A LDP official said, &#8220;This time, the LDP will have a proportional list.</p>
<p> This time, the LDP ran out of names for the proportional list, and the 14 seats it had originally won were given to other parties. In order to prevent this from happening, the LDP needs to get its name on the bottom of the list, even if its chances of winning are slim.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> What is important is that they do not complain if they fail. &#8220;The important thing is not to complain if you fail, because your chances of winning the election are close to zero. And, and this is the most important thing, even if you happen to win, as you did this time, you don&#8217;t want the district in the next election. For example, if Mr. Muraki wanted to run for a constituency in his home district of Hokkaido, he would have to contend with incumbents. The party headquarters wants to avoid that hassle as much as possible. That is why the list is made up of people who can get out of it,&#8221; said an LDP official.</span></p>
<p> It is possible to run for office in a primary election if a member retires or if a district is vacant. However, many of them do not have constituencies. If they are willing to accept such conditions, there is a possibility that they will be included in the proportional list, although at the lower proportional level, if there is a political party official close to them.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Even a &#8220;controversial&#8221; legislator like Mr. Maekawa has been a member of the House of Representatives twice. Surprisingly, being a former member of the House of Representatives is useful in business. It also gives me a network of contacts with Diet members and bureaucrats. Moreover, since I don&#8217;t have any ground to stand on, I have very little expenses. You don&#8217;t even need to hire a private secretary. It&#8217;s a good job,&#8221; said a source in Nagata-cho.</span></p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p> This website therefore sent a letter of inquiry to Senator Maekawa&#8217;s office asking why he ran for the proportional North Kanto block, whether or not he plans to run for office in his constituency, and what kind of activities he plans to engage in as a member of the Diet.　The website sent a letter of inquiry to Councilor Maekawa&#8217;s office, but did not receive a response by the deadline.</p>
<p> In addition to the annual expenses, the taxpayers&#8217; money is said to be about 75 million yen per legislator per year, including expenses for documents, communications, transportation, and accommodation, legislative office expenses, party subsidies, free coupons for JR and airline tickets, and the salary of a public secretary. Even if they were elected solely on a proportional basis, we hope they will work hard for the people. &#8230;&#8230;</p>
<figure id="attachment_459116" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-459116" style="width: 2294px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="4bb69099"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/02/2300c671d7a2e48bffd5478591a9300a.png" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-459116" class="wp-caption-text"> Councilors Toshinao Nakagawa and Megumi Maekawa, smiling throughout the meal while sharing a pizza and salad with each other (March 24, &#8217;17 issue).</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_459118" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-459118" style="width: 902px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="65edc6da"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/02/85daa6f2f1bffe3d468a4768a340cc9a.png" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-459118" class="wp-caption-text"> Councilors Toshinao Nakagawa and Megumi Maekawa leaving the apartment together (March 24, &#8217;17).</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_459122" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-459122" style="width: 1528px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="3a4929ec"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/02/3ad0f6c71def27842c82d657db23d430.png" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-459122" class="wp-caption-text"> Toshinao Nakagawa shaved his head to show remorse at the press conference (August 18, &#8217;17 issue).</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_459119" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-459119" style="width: 1876px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="4337d933"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/02/b023c63a6a2699eec6a6cdcd63450cea.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-459119" class="wp-caption-text"> FRIDAY (August 18, &#8217;17 issue)</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_459121" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-459121" style="width: 2500px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="8ca50dcb"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/02/8757f2bcb208742a7886c6e4cfe52c1a.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-459121" class="wp-caption-text"> FRIDAY (August 18, &#8217;17 issue)</figcaption></figure>


 Sota Shima (Maekawa), Takeshi Kinugawa (Takaichi)

 Behind the back of the 25 year old Mr. Tei Muraki, who was elected for the first time in the proportional Hokkaido block, Ms. Megumi Maekawa, who was reportedly involved in a political affair 9 years ago, was quietly elected as the sole proportional winner of the North Kanto block thanks to the LDP's huge victory. ......

Two women eating pizza together&#8230; A photo of a female LDP lawmaker who was quietly elected behind the scenes of her historic victory, and who is suspected of having an affair in the political arena.

Two women eating pizza together… A photo of a female LDP lawmaker who was quietly elected behind the scenes of her historic victory, and who is suspected of having an affair in the political arena.

Access Ranking