Takatora Kobayashi, a Mie prefectural assembly member of the Liberal Democratic Party, apologizes for his tweets about the state funeral for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a news conference in Tsu on Oct. 6. (Yusuke Saito)

Photo/Illutration A tweet by Takatora Kobayashi, a Mie prefectural assembly member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, dated Oct. 4, cites Sanae Takaichi, minister in charge of economic security, as the source of a previous tweet which said 80 percent of social media posts opposing the state funeral for slain former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came from a neighboring continent. (Tomohiro Yamamoto)

TSU--A Mie prefectural assembly member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party apologized Oct. 6 for posting a series of tweets stating that opposition to the state funeral for slain former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe largely came from a “neighboring continent.”

Takatora Kobayashi conceded during a news conference in the Mie prefectural capital of Tsu that what he tweeted was erroneous, but he refused to clarify how.

In a tweet on Oct. 2, Kobayashi said, “An analysis shows that 80 percent (of social media posts opposing the state funeral) were sent from a neighboring continent.” 

On Oct. 4, he told reporters that his information came from Sanae Takaichi, the minister in charge of economic security.

Kobayashi explained that he sent the tweet based on what Takaichi said during a speech she gave in Nagoya on Oct. 2.

After speaking to reporters, he tweeted the same day, “(The 80 percent analysis was) what Ms. Sanae Takaichi cited (in her speech) as the conclusion of research undertaken by the government.”

At a meeting on Oct. 3, many Mie prefectural assembly members criticized Kobayashi’s posts, saying they could fuel discrimination and prejudice against a certain country or race. 

At the Oct. 6 news conference, Kobayashi said he would like to withdraw his tweets as they contained erroneous information.

He also said he had deleted the tweets in question.

Kobayashi went on to explain that although he took notes while listening to Takaichi’s speech, he discovered they contained incorrect information after multiple people who also attended the event pointed out the mistake to him.

Kobayashi said he sent apologies to Takaichi’s office.

However, he refused to clarify during the news conference how his tweets were incorrect.

He justified his refusal by saying that Takaichi’s speech was not open to the public.

“I’m not under pressure from anyone (in withdrawaing my tweets),” Kobayashi said. “I’m just being sincere (in doing so).”

On the question of whether he should resign over the tweets, Kobayashi said, “I am filled with regret,” adding that he would like to keep working hard as an assembly member.

He said he would let voters decide his future in the assembly election next spring, according to observers.

Kobayashi refused to comment on criticism over his “80 percent” tweet that it encourages discrimination or bias, saying “(Doing so) will require me to comment on what was said at the speech.”

Kobayashi made his account private as of the evening of Oct. 5, explaining that “I caused inconvenience to many people.”

There were protests across Japan over the state funeral, held at Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan hall on Sept. 27.

(This article was written by Tomohiro Yamamoto and Yusuke Saito.)

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