TOKYO: Japanese regulatory reform minister KONO Taro on Wednesday apologized over a Twitter post related to the government’s efforts to scrap the use of “hanko” seals in administrative procedures.

“I apologize. My intent was not properly expressed,” he told a meeting of the Cabinet Committee of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, Japan’s parliament.

Kono recently posted on Twitter a photograph of a hanko engraved with words meaning “abolish stamps.” The post angered the hanko industry, which is suffering from a drop in sales.

“Kono is taunting the seal industry with his act,” Takao Tokui, who leads an industry group, said at a meeting with Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai on Friday. “He lacks the qualities of a politician.”

The hanko used is a gift from digital transformation minister Takuya Hirai. Kono has already deleted the post.

Kotaro Nagasaki, governor of Yamanashi Prefecture, west of Tokyo, also expressed frustration over Kono’s post at the meeting. Yamanashi is one of Japan’s biggest hanko-producing regions.

“I hope that we can find a new value for hanko,” Kono told the Lower House committee. “I wanted to express a message with an impact using hanko, so I posted (the photograph).”

JIJI Press