Hyogo Assembly Member Offers to Quit Nippon Ishin over Probe Data

Jiji Press

18:03 JST, February 23, 2025

KOBE (Jiji Press) — A Hyogo prefectural assembly member from Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) has offered to leave the party for his questionable act over data on a probe by an assembly panel into alleged harassment by Motohiko Saito, governor of the western prefecture of Hyogo, the member said Sunday.

At a press conference in Kobe, the capital of Hyogo, the assembly member, Makoto Masuyama, apologized for providing Takashi Tachibana, head of political group NHK Party, with undisclosed audio data of the special investigation committee and a document containing unconfirmed information.

On whether to resign as a member of the assembly, Masuyama said he will listen to opinions of voters.

“I apologize for leaking the audio data, which amounted to a violation of related rules,” he said.

The audio data and the document contain information supporting the position of Saito, who has been under fire for suspected harassment. Masuyama said he provided them to Tachibana because he has an ability to communicate effectively, enabling people in the prefecture to know the content, while noting that he had no intention to defend the Hyogo governor.

The press conference was also attended by two other Hyogo assembly members, Minoru Kishiguchi and Takahiro Shirai.

Kishiguchi was involved in the supply of the document to Tachibana, while Shirai provided the NHK Party head with unconfirmed information over the phone. The two offered their apologies at the press conference.

Kishiguchi said that he read the document on the day it was provided to Tachibana. Kishiguchi added that he is unsure about the authenticity of most of the information included in the document.

Shirai said he did not talk about details of individual issues with Tachibana.