Taro Kono Cautioned for Using Smartphone at Upper House Committee; Digital Minister Tried to Answer CDPJ Member

The Yomiuri Shimbun

21:12 JST, November 27, 2023

Digital minister Taro Kono was cautioned when he tried to answer a question using his smartphone at a meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Councillors on Monday. According to the upper house secretariat, the use of a smartphone is not permitted at the house’s committee meetings.

Kono pulled out his smartphone from his suit pocket, saying, “Let me check,” after he was asked by a member of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan about who the foreign minister was in March 2019. Shinsuke Suematsu, the committee’s chairperson, cautioned Kono and said that he should refrain from using his phone. Kono accepted the caution and put the phone away.