When confronted with a scandal, most Japanese politicians rely on a stock phrase: “I don’t recall that.”
And so it it was refreshing to see that Hiroyuki Miyazawa, the 49-year-old House of Representatives lawmaker, came clean and stated plainly: “I remember that.”
A member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Miyazawa recently resigned his seat when Weekly Bunshun reported on his penchant for papakatsu sugar daddy compensated dating and regular use of sex workers.
He is also supposed to have been practically living with a woman in her twenties during the pandemic, despite being married. The arrangement involved money.
Miyazawa’s honesty in his press conference is admirable, though he initially tried to deny he was actually having sex with the young woman when confronted by the Weekly Bunshun reporter (only to find them quoting back the kinky details of the profile he had made on the compensated dating site — such juicy nuggets as “I’ll help you graduate from your virginity”).
It makes a stark contrast with the reaction of another politician, Takeru Yoshikawa, to a tabloid that caught him engaged in compensated dating with an 18-year-old, in which he tried desperately to squirm his way out of it in an (ultimately unsuccessful) bid to save his career.
Adultery is not itself so shocking in Japan: a quarter of married men admit to having affairs. But for some reason, we hold politicians to higher standards.
Japanese politicians are paid very well and get all sorts of perks related to transport expenses and accommodation. They are also away from their families in other parts of the country for extended periods of time. With temptation just a few clicks away if you know which websites and services to use, it is little wonder that so many of them (especially the men) are having affairs. Add in the sense of entitlement that their status as a politician and (generally) elite backgrounds must bestow upon them, and they likely expect to get away with it. And the truth is, they probably do most of the time.
And it’s not just the guys. A tabloid scoop exposed LDP lawmaker Megumi Hirose’s affair with a foreign saxophonist earlier this year. At least, though, she chose a lover who was close to her age!
