<figure id="attachment_249791" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 969px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-249791"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="5a5f8cb1"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/06/2019022503036.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-249791" class="wp-caption-text">Mr. Kikkawa was one of the young hopefuls of the &#8220;Kishida faction&#8221; headed by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Will he return to the party as if nothing happened after the storm passes?</figcaption></figure>
It was reported that he gave 40,000 yen to an 18-year-old female university student, had her drink alcohol, and then spent time with her in a hotel room. When pressed by reporters, he said that he would give an explanation depending on the content of the report when it appeared in a weekly magazine, but he is still hiding  without giving any explanation.
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He has left the Liberal Democratic Party but has not resigned from the Diet. Even though he does not appear in public, his salary as a Diet member continues.
In addition to his annual salary, he also receives a so-called &#8220;correspondence allowance&#8221; of 1 million yen per month, which was questioned by the Diet. This money is tax-free, and no receipts are required. The money is like spending money, allowing him to do as he pleases.
 Since the correspondence fee is paid into the same account as the annual salary, the legislators seem to gradually lose the sense of it as an expense or research expense. When he was eating and drinking with an 18-year-old female university student, Mr. Kikkawa said, &#8220;The salary of a Diet member is about 1.6 million yen, including transportation expenses (correspondence expenses).&#8221;
&#8220;The public has no way of knowing if the correspondence expenses, which do not require receipts, were used for inappropriate activities like spending it for &#8220;sugar-baby&#8221;. Moreover, since he did not resign, if things continue as they are, the summer bonus of about 2.9 million yen will be transferred to Mr. Kikkawa at the end of June. The public will not be satisfied with the fact that no one has taken responsibility and no one has been blamed for the situation.&#8221;
Prime Minister Kishida told Tadayo Tanabe, a member of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), at a Diet session that he was said to be the hope of Kishida&#8217;s faction.
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 I hear that he is said to be the hope of the Kishida faction.
Prime Minister Kishida replied
 I don&#8217;t remember that I have ever given any evaluation to any member of the faction.
I don&#8217;t recall giving any recognition to any of the members.
However, in a pamphlet titled &#8220;Request to Join the LDP&#8221; that Kikkawa had distributed in his hometown, Prime Minister Kishida signed a document stating that Kikkawa was still an immediate asset to the national government.
 &#8220;He is still active in the front lines of national politics as an immediate asset.&#8221;
Prime Minister Kishida said, &#8220;I remember him.&#8221; Prime Minister Kishida has denied having any recollection of the pamphlet, but is it possible that he is trying to say that Mr. Kikkawa created the pamphlet in his name without his permission?
 It seems that Senator Kikkawa has no intention of resigning from the Diet, but there are reports that other weekly newspapers are also looking for another story. Even those close to Councilman Kikkawa have given up, saying, &#8220;It&#8217;s all over.&#8221;
&#8220;Since he originally lost the primary election and joined the LDP as a proportional candidate, there is a strong possibility that he will never be elected again if he leaves the party and becomes an independent. There is also the problem of the system that allows those who were elected through proportional voting to leave the party and continue to serve in the LDP,&#8221; said a TV station official.
However, the LDP has a soft spot for its own people, and there is a possibility that Prime Minister Kishida will not abandon Mr. Kikkawa, whom he has loved and considered as his hope before.
&#8220;In January of this year, the LDP reinstated former National Public Safety Commission Chairman Jun Matsumoto, who left the party after being caught drinking at a club in Ginza, Tokyo, during the declaration of a state of emergency over the new coronavirus. In short, it is a common practice to return to the LDP after the scandals had cooled off&#8221; &#8212; A reporter for a national newspaper said.
The Diet session was adjourned without deliberation on a resolution submitted by the DPJ recommending his resignation. The public will have to keep a close eye on the future of Councilor Kikkawa, who continues to serve as a member of the Diet without any explanation of his current scandal.

 Kyodo News

 Alderman Kikkawa was reported to have allegedly given an 18-year-old woman 40,000 yen to drink and then spent the night in a hotel room with her. Although he left the LDP, he has remained in hiding and has not been accountable for his actions....

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