Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Mio Sugita admitted on her blog Thursday that she made the remark about sexual violence against women, that "women can lie as much as they want," and apologized for it.
Initially, Sugita, a House of Representatives member, had denied she made such a remark at a closed-door party meeting held on Sept. 25.
"As I spoke for an extended period of time, I believed that I had not made the remark," Sugita wrote on her blog. "After checking [my statement] closely, it was confirmed that I had made the remark."
"I apologize to those who felt discomfort," she added.
Jun Azumi, Diet affairs chief of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, criticized Sugita for the remark. "She lied and deceived people after making a remark apparently looking down on women," he told reporters at the Diet building on Thursday. "That has raised questions over her qualifications as a lawmaker."
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