Photo/Illutration Daishiro Yamagiwa, state minister in charge of economic revitalization, responds to a question duirng an Upper House plenary session on Oct. 7. (Koichi Ueda)

Daishiro Yamagiwa, state minister in charge of economic revitalization, has admitted to facts concerning his connections with the Unification Church only when evidence is thrust at him by other parties.

He has justified himself with arrogance, showing no signs of earnest repentance. And he has conducted himself in that insincere manner over and over again.

Yamagiwa obviously does not deserve to serve as a Cabinet minister. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida should no longer continue defending him.

Yamagiwa’s ties with the religious organization, now formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, have come out into the open one after another.

During Diet interpellations last week, representatives of opposition parties called on Yamagiwa to step down and Kishida to dismiss him day after day. But both turned a deaf ear to the demands.

Let us recall what kind of explanations Yamagiwa has given.

When he faced allegations that he attended an international conference organized overseas in 2016 by a group affiliated with the Unification Church, Yamagiwa said, “It appears natural, in the light of media reports, to believe that I attended it.”

Did he not remember that he had attended the event, which took him to travel as far as Nepal?

He claimed that he had been unable to confirm his past actions because he discards documents and materials in a time span of about a year so they will not pile up in his office.

If his words are taken at face value, they show that as a politician he is incredibly disrespectful of the need to keep records.

Yamagiwa had said nothing about his meeting with Han Hak-ja, the Unification Church leader, at a conference organized by the religious group in 2018.

He said he had remained silent because no records were available, although he remembered having met her somewhere.

“I saw a photo (showing Yamagiwa and Han together), which coincided with what I remembered,” he said.

Yamagiwa’s refusal to admit to facts as long as no evidence is shown indicates that he has no intention to clear up suspicions of his own accord.

This is by no means the first time that Yamagiwa’s qualifications have been called into question.

In a stump speech during the campaign for the July 10 Upper House election, he said, “We, officials of the government, don’t lend a single ear to proposals that come from people in the opposition.”

We cannot accept his remark.

The government should serve, fairly and justly, all members of the public, including those who voted for the opposition.

At long last, Yamagiwa agreed to retract his words when he responded at a Diet interpellation on Oct. 7.

But he had only explained at an earlier Diet session that his remark was “misleading” and “offended opposition lawmakers.” Such excuses hardly indicate that he is truly aware of his own obligations.

That alone could be reason enough for disqualifying him as a Cabinet minister.

It is surprising that despite all that, Kishida still continues defending Yamagiwa.

He emphasized that Yamagiwa, repentant about his ties with the Unification Church, “has said he will sever all ties with the organization in the future.”

Kishida said Yamagiwa “has to give careful and thorough explanations” on his own responsibility, leaving all the rest for the minister to deal with on his own.

The prime minister has no need to feel constrained by anything. Kishida should dismiss Yamagiwa if he refuses to step down.

Lower House Speaker Hiroyuki Hosoda on Oct. 7 provided an additional report to admit that he had more ties with the Unification Church than he had initially acknowledged.

That was supposed to be a re-explanation to address public criticism of only issuing a perfunctory comment in a one-page document.

Still, he again released only a two-page document and refused to take questions in a public appearance. 

Public distrust of politics will only grow as long as the heads of the executive and legislative branches keep responding with such an attitude.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 9

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