Revelations that Makiko Yamada, a cabinet public relations secretary, was among government officials caught up in a wining and dining scandal involving Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's son was an especially stinging blow for Suga.
Suga heavily relied on Yamada since her time working in the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, selecting her as a cabinet public relations secretary when he became prime minister in September.
The opposition parties are poised to relentlessly pursue the prime minister's responsibility over this matter.
"I deeply regret that I have harmed public trust in government employees," Yamada said at the House of Representatives Budget Committee on Thursday morning. "I am extremely sorry."
In November 2019, when Yamada was vice minister for policy coordination at the communications ministry, she had dinner with four officials from Tohokushinsha Film Corp., including the Suga's eldest son. The bill for five came to 371,013 yen -- about 74,200 yen per person.
"The meal included wagyu steak and seafood," Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said Wednesday at the lower house Cabinet Committee.
Yamada began her career at what was then the Posts and Telecommunications Ministry in 1984 and has mainly held positions in the communications field. In November 2013, during the second administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Yamada became the first woman to be appointed executive secretary to the prime minister. Yamada also was the first woman to hold the post of vice minister for policy coordination, the second-highest administrative position at the communications ministry.
Suga held Yamada in high regard since his days as chief cabinet secretary and named her cabinet public relations secretary last year. Yamada's status sparked some jealousy among other ministry officials.
"She was the first woman to hold this title and that, but she didn't achieve anything significant at the internal affairs ministry," a ministry source told The Yomiuri Shimbun.
As cabinet public relations secretary, Yamada was responsible for the government's public relations strategy and for moderating the prime minister's press conferences.
Yamada's predecessor, Eiichi Hasegawa, hailed from the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry and concurrently served as a special adviser to Abe. Hasegawa made his presence felt on issues such as diplomatic relations with Russia.
Compared with Hasegawa, according to a close aide of the prime minister, Yamada's "involvement in policy is meager."
In June 2020, while Yamada was vice minister for policy coordination, she said in a video for young people that she was "a woman who would never turn down an invitation to go drinking."
The lower house Budget Committee decided at a board meeting Wednesday to summon Yamada to Thursday's committee meeting as an unsworn witness. Opposition parties are taking advantage of the Yamada's scandal to tarnish the reputation of the entire Suga administration.
On Wednesday, Jun Azumi, chairman of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan's Diet affairs committee, took a dig at Yamada.
"A cabinet public relations secretary's job is to explain and provide clarity even on inconvenient matters," Azumi said satirically to reporters at the Diet.
CDPJ Deputy Representative Kiyomi Tsujimoto called for Yamada to resign.
"She accepted without any qualms a lavish dinner that cost more than 70,000 yen per head," she said. "She had better step down."
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