Photo/Illutration Lower House Speaker Hiroyuki Hosoda before a meeting in early September (Koichi Ueda)

Lower House Speaker Hiroyuki Hosoda intends to step down for health reasons after a tenure filled with controversy, Diet sources said Sept. 29.

Hosoda, 79, was hospitalized twice this summer, once complaining of heatstroke symptoms.

His resignation is expected to be accepted when an extraordinary Diet session is convened in October.

Hosoda was appointed Lower House speaker in 2021. He was dogged by unfavorable headlines and once was the target of a motion of no-confidence submitted by opposition parties. However, it was defeated due to the overwhelming majority held by the ruling coalition.

Although he was supposed to remain neutral on legislative matters, Hosoda spoke out against a Lower House reapportionment proposal that he contended would hurt rural regions. Hosoda represents a district in Shimane Prefecture, among the least populated ones in Japan.

A weekly magazine twice ran articles alleging inappropriate sexual behavior on the part of Hosoda toward female reporters. He furiously denied the allegations and threatened to sue the magazine.

Hosoda was also at the center of controversy last year when reports surfaced about his long association with the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, formerly known as the Unification Church.

He never spoke publicly about those ties, only responding to Lower House members in a closed-door session.

At one time Hosoda headed the faction of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party that was subsequently led by Shinzo Abe, the former prime minister who was gunned down while campaigning in the city of Nara in July last year.

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