TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio said Friday he was at a controversial year-end party at the prime minister’s official residence in late December last year.

The Friday weekly photo magazine reported in its latest issue that Kishida was in a group photo taken at the year-end party. Some in the opposition camp said it was problematic that the photo had been leaked.

Kishida’s first son, Shotaro, was removed as secretary to the prime minister on Thursday, after it was revealed that he held the party with relatives and that he took photos with them in a public space at the official residence.

Kishida told reporters he was at the party with relatives in the private section of the official residence. He denied behaving inappropriately in the public space.

The photo published by the magazine showed 18 people, including Kishida, his wife, Yuko, and Shotaro.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Friday that it was fine for the prime minister to have dinner with relatives in the private space of the official residence.

Speaking at a press conference, Matsuno also said the government will make sure the building is used and managed properly, citing its public functions such as receptions for guests.

Kenta Izumi, leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, told a press conference, “It’s a big problem that photos (of inside the official residence) have been leaked to the outside.”

Kazuya Shinba, secretary-general of the opposition Democratic Party for the People, also expressed concern about the leakage, saying, “It’s a matter of information management.”

“This is making politics a personal business,” Tomoko Tamura, deputy head of the Japanese Communist Party, also an opposition party, said in a press conference, demanding explanations from Kishida.

A lawmaker of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party who has served as a cabinet minister claimed that there was nothing problematic with the taking of the photo in question, while also saying, “It doesn’t create a good impression.”

JIJI Press