Election Planner for Koizumi’s LDP Leader Campaign Apologizes for Role in Creation of Tailored Online Comments

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:09 JST, October 15, 2025

An election planner issued a statement Tuesday about his company’s role in the creation of comments aimed at boosting the campaign of Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Shinjiro Koizumi in the recent party presidential election.

Election staff for Koizumi in the party leadership race asked people connected to the campaign to post favorable comments on a video streaming site, based on samples they were provided. The tactic has been criticized as inappropriate.

As a result of the firm’s internal probe, “I confirmed that it was an employee of my company who made the sample comments,” Kaoru Matsuda, president of the consulting firm Dialogue, said in the statement.

He apologized, adding, “The sample comments included exaggerated expressions.”

The firm said it will make ethical guidelines on the management of social media use and strengthen supervision to prevent a recurrence.

On the role of former digital minister Karen Makishima, Matsuda said in the statement, “The article [of the weekly magazine] can be interpreted as saying that Ms. Makishima made the sample comments and played a leading role in posting them, but that does not match the facts.”

Makishima had worked as a team leader for general affairs and public relations in Koizumi’s office for the party presidential election. Her office staff had distributed copies of the sample comments to offices of other LDP members who supported Koizumi in the party leadership race.

Makishima resigned from the role after the incident came to light.