The revelation that the head of Japan’s third largest opposition party, Yuichiro Tamaki, has been having an affair with a former gravure model, Miyuki Koizumi, sparked a media frenzy at the start of this week.
The tabloids have continued to pump out stories about the affair, much of which is just speculation.
Of course, adulterous politicians is a story as old as the hills but this one has has longer legs because Tamaki is so prominent right now (his party arguably holds the keys to keeping the minority Liberal Democratic Party government in power) — and this is surely why the tabloids went after him in the first place.
It’s also helped by the optics: Miyuki Koizumi is an attractive woman who likes to dress in miniskirts and tight tops.
This, too, has prompted a lot of mean-spirited criticism that she is too old, at 39, for such clothing, or that she only has this one outfit because all the paparazzi pics from her clandestine meetings with Tamaki seem to show her wearing the same attire. We think she looks great and if you’ve got it, flaunt it!
Others have said that the whole story has been overblown, that it’s a private matter for Tamaki and his wife, and has no bearing on policy.
That argument, though, becomes harder to countenance when netizens dig up recent footage of Tamaki claiming he has made efforts to avoid honey traps, and even a much older comment in which he promises never to have an extramarital affair.
Curiously, people have also dug up old content by Koizumi — and this has sent her photo book racing to the top of the charts.
A photo book that she released in 2011, when she was around 26, is now a bestseller on Amazon. It helps that it’s incredibly cheap (free if you have Kindle Unlimited or just ¥198 otherwise). The 56-page, relatively low-budget book features Koizumi in a range of sexy office lady costumes and poses.
Sadly, though, it probably won’t mean much money for her at a time when her job prospects and future look bleak.
The whole affair has highlighted the different standards to which we hold men and women, especially when it’s a powerful man. Tamaki still has his job (for now) and likely won’t face severe political consequences for his affair. Koizumi is apparently about to lose her job as a Takamatsu tourism ambassador and will probably struggle to find employment, and has had to delete all her social media.
Perhaps she could embrace the notoriety and make a gravure comeback, remaking herself as a jukujo femme fatale who seduces older men?!
