Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is under pressure over a performance by scantily clad dancers at a party event. Under questioning in parliament, Kishida said on Wednesday that the actions at a meeting of his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) were not in line with his government’s “goal” to promote “diversity”.
The government strives for a society without exclusion in which the “dignity and diversity” of all people is respected, Kishida said, according to Japanese media reports.
Dancers were only lightly dressed
Footage had previously emerged from an LDP event in the local branch in November, in which women danced in skimpy costumes and sat on the laps of male participants. According to reports, the guests also gave the dancers banknotes through their mouths.
According to the organizers, women must ensure ‘diversity’.
One of the organizers, LDP politician Tetsuya Kawabata, later justified himself by saying that the “go-go dancers” were invited to ensure “diversity” at the event. The “excitement” over the women’s presence, especially towards the end of the event, “exceeded his expectations,” the vice-president of the local party youth told broadcaster ANN. Kawabata has since resigned.
The LDP’s national youth organization apologized on Monday. Two MPs have resigned from their positions at the youth organization, but want to remain party members and also retain their parliamentary mandate.
The Prime Minister is committed to promoting women in the party
The revelations are extremely embarrassing for the LDP, which has ruled Japan almost uninterruptedly for decades: Kishida had recently portrayed herself as a supporter of women in Japan’s male-dominated political world. Since a cabinet reshuffle in September, five of the twenty government members are women – a record in Japan.
Source: Krone
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