At the Liberal Democratic Party Youth Division Meeting, Female Dancer Invited Causing Controversy... Nakasone's Grandson Resigns

Controversy has erupted after it was revealed that multiple female dancers wearing revealing outfits were invited to a gathering attended by young members of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party. The controversy is spreading, with Yasutaka Nakasone, a lawmaker and grandson of former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, reportedly firming up his intention to resign from his position as acting director of the party's Youth Bureau.

On the 8th, Japan's Sankei Shimbun reported that it had obtained footage of the LDP Youth Bureau Kinki Block meeting and social gathering held last November at a hotel in Wakayama City, Wakayama Prefecture. The Kinki Block meeting is an annual event held in rotation across prefectures and municipalities, and this year it was organized by the LDP Wakayama Prefectural Federation.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The event was planned and operated by Tetsuya Kawabata, a three-term lawmaker and Youth Bureau chief of the Wakayama Prefectural Federation. About 50 participants attended the event, including members of the party headquarters Youth Bureau, young local assembly members from two cities and four prefectures in the Kinki region, and party members.

The footage obtained by Sankei Shimbun showed that after the meeting, at least five dancers performed on stage and around the banquet tables to music, dancing and making physical contact with participants. Sankei Shimbun reported, "There were participants who held bills in their mouths and passed them to the dancers orally, and others who inserted paper into the dancers' costumes and touched their buttocks."

The project expenses for the controversial event were reportedly funded by the central party and the Wakayama Prefectural Federation. However, since the central party receives political party subsidies and the Wakayama Prefectural Federation also receives grants from the central party annually, Sankei Shimbun pointed out the possibility that some of the project funds may have come from public money.

Lawmaker Kawabata, who planned the event, explained to Sankei Shimbun, "The dancers are internationally active performers, and we invited them to express diversity, but we are taking the strong criticism from some related parties seriously."

As the incident spreads, multiple party sources cited by Sankei Shimbun reported that Takashi Fujiwara, director of the LDP Youth Bureau, and acting director Yasutaka Nakasone have decided to resign. Acting director Nakasone is also the grandson of former Prime Minister Nakasone.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.