Photo/Illutration Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi on Dec. 27 (Takeshi Iwashita)

Newly appointed Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi scrapped plans to hold a New Year party in his Yamaguchi Prefecture constituency to celebrate his promotion after being warned his timing was ill-advised.

Hayashi was named earlier this month to replace Hirokazu Matsuno as the government’s most senior spokesman. Matsuno resigned over a money and politics scandal that has engulfed the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s Abe faction. He is alleged to have received more than 10 million yen ($70,900) from a slush fund created from party fundraising ticket sales.

Hayashi’s political patronage association and the LDP’s Yamaguchi prefectural federation were going to co-host a gala for 200 guests at a hotel in Yamaguchi on Jan. 20 to celebrate his appointment. The attendance fee was 5,000 yen.

There were also plans to host a New Year’s party on Jan. 21 in Shimonoseki with a 3,000-yen fee that included alcoholic refreshments.

A Dec. 28 report by The Asahi Shimbun on the plans for the parties prompted Hayashi’s office to explain the functions in no way constituted “political fundraising parties” and were completely aboveboard.

Even so, the fact that Hayashi had any celebrations in mind was criticized even within the ruling party, with a senior member saying, “it is ill-advised.”

Hayashi came under intense pressure to cancel the parties “at a time like this.”

According to Hayashi’s office, the decision to cancel was directly tied to efforts to contain damage from the LDP faction’s political fundraising party controversy.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has instructed the party to refrain from holding faction parties “until we clarify our efforts to restore trust.” However, he has not issued specific instructions regarding other parties held by individual members.

Related News