Politics & Government

Upper House Panel Demands Absent Lawmaker GaaSyy’s Apology

The Yomiuri Shimbun
The Discipline Committee of House of Councillors that voted on Tuesday morning to demand lawmaker GaaSyy apologize in an open parliamentary meeting.

Jiji Press

16:55 JST, February 21, 2023

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The Discipline Committee of Japan’s House of Councillors on Tuesday voted to demand lawmaker GaaSyy apologize in an open parliamentary meeting as a penalty for his continued absence.

The penalty, approved unanimously, is expected to be put to a vote at a plenary meeting of the upper chamber of the Diet on Wednesday.

This is the first time that the Upper House committee has decided to punish a lawmaker for being absent from the Diet.

GaaSyy, a YouTuber famous in Japan, has not attended even one Diet meeting since he won a parliamentary seat for the first time in the Upper House election July 10, 2022. He is based in the United Arab Emirates.

If GaaSyy, from the NHK Party, a single-issue party critical of public broadcaster NHK refuses to apologize, the panel is likely to discuss how to punish him again. In that case, he may face the most severe punishment of expulsion.