Japan DPFP’s Tamaki Admits Having Affair

Jiji Press

15:36 JST, November 11, 2024

Tokyo (Jiji Press)—Yuichiro Tamaki, head of Japan’s Democratic Party for the People, on Monday admitted having an extramarital affair as alleged in a magazine report.

The report “is largely true,” Tamaki told a press conference. “I’d like to apologize not only to my family but also to everyone in the country who had high hopes for me.”

The scandal hit the opposition party after it sharply boosted its presence in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, the country’s parliament, in the Oct. 27 general election.

On whether he will step down as head of the party, Tamaki said, “I’d like to listen to what my peers have to say.” Meanwhile, he ruled out an intention to resign as a lawmaker, saying, “I hope to meet the expectations through my work.”

The DPFP held a meeting of party lawmakers from both Diet chambers and decided to keep him in the post.

The online edition of the Flash magazine Monday ran an article saying that Tamaki spent time at a Tokyo bar with a female personality serving as a tourism ambassador to Takamatsu just after the general election.

Tamaki was elected to the Lower House in a constituency including parts of Takamatsu, the capital of the western prefecture of Kagawa.

“Since she’s a tourist ambassador in my hometown, we sometimes got together at various events,” he told the press conference, although he did not elaborate further.

“It was entirely due to my weakness that I, as someone with a wife and a child, was attracted to another woman,” he also said.

“I was severely scolded by my wife. I will spend the rest of my life apologizing,” a teary-eyed Tamaki said.