Photo/Illutration Upper House lawmaker Kiyoshi Nakajo, left, and Fumitake Fujita, secretary-general of Nippon Ishin, speak to reporters in the Diet on Nov. 16. (Shohei Sasagawa)

Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) has given one of its lawmakers a slap on the wrist for using his speaking time during a Diet question session to promote his new single.

Upper House member Kiyoshi Nakajo, 76, who is also a famous “enka” singer, abruptly made a plug for his new song when his speaking time came to a close at a meeting of the chamber’s Committee on Education, Culture and Science on Nov. 15.

“My new single came out in September,” Nakajo said. “Please buy it if you want to listen.”

He also announced to the committee that he will soon retire from his singing gig, and he then promoted his final performance.

“I will do my last dinner show in December. It’s not just the last dinner show of the year; it’s the last dinner show of my show business career. Please come when you get a chance,” Nakajo said.

Fumitake Fujita, secretary-general of Nippon Ishin, addressed reporters at the Diet building on Nov. 16 alongside Nakajo and said the opposition party has issued a severe reprimand against him.

Fujita said Nakajo “sounded like he was promoting an individual occupation and it was inappropriate,” so the party is now seeking to strike the remarks from the record.

According to the Upper House Secretariat, there is no rule that directly bans an act of advertising or promotion.

But making a remark that wanders from topics on the agenda may infringe on Upper House rules that require lawmakers to “respect the dignity” of the house.

Nakajo said he did not realize his impromptu plug would be frowned upon.

“I made the remarks because I wanted to say that I will retire from show business with this dinner show and that I will work hard on my new stage (as a lawmaker) starting from next year,” he explained.

“I am deeply apologetic,” he said. “I was told to ask a question related to cultural arts and entertainment. So, I thought talking about such things was OK.”

Nakajo is a relative newcomer to politics. He won his first race as a proportional-representation candidate for Nippon Ishin in the Upper House election in July this year.

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