January 30, 2016
Prime Minister Abe Shinzo on January 28 appointed Liberal Democratic Party member of the House of Representatives Ishihara Nobuteru, former LDP secretary general, as Minister in Charge of Economic Revitalization to replace Amari Akira who resigned due to his bribery scandal.
Ishihara is a member of a pro-Yasukuni parliamentarians’ group supporting the Shinto Association of Spiritual Leadership which has been working to make Shinto the nation’s official ideology as it was in pre-war Imperial Japan. He also advocates that visits to the Yasukuni Shrine glorifying Japan’s past war of aggression by prime ministers be made official.
Although Ishihara promised to oppose Japan’s participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade framework in the 2012 general election, he accepted the post promoting the TPP.
Ishihara is a person known for his remarks insulting socially vulnerable people and victims of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown.
In 2012, when he was the LDP secretary general, he said that people with gastrostomy tubes and devices look like “alien beings from outer space” on a BS TV program covering government policies to cut medical services. He also said that it should be called into question that the government is using money to provide medical services to lonely persons at the very bottom of society.
In June 2014, Ishihara as the Environment Minister made a disrespectful remark in regard to the construction of interim storage facilities for contaminated soil taken from the 2011 nuclear accident-affected areas. Asked by reporters about negotiations with candidate local governments to host the facilities, Ishihara said that local residents could be “conciliated with money in the end”. Following his remark, no-confidence and censure motions against Ishihara were submitted to the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors respectively.
Past related article:
> Ichida raps environment minister for insulting Fukushima victims by making gaffe [June 18, 2014]
Ishihara is a member of a pro-Yasukuni parliamentarians’ group supporting the Shinto Association of Spiritual Leadership which has been working to make Shinto the nation’s official ideology as it was in pre-war Imperial Japan. He also advocates that visits to the Yasukuni Shrine glorifying Japan’s past war of aggression by prime ministers be made official.
Although Ishihara promised to oppose Japan’s participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade framework in the 2012 general election, he accepted the post promoting the TPP.
Ishihara is a person known for his remarks insulting socially vulnerable people and victims of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown.
In 2012, when he was the LDP secretary general, he said that people with gastrostomy tubes and devices look like “alien beings from outer space” on a BS TV program covering government policies to cut medical services. He also said that it should be called into question that the government is using money to provide medical services to lonely persons at the very bottom of society.
In June 2014, Ishihara as the Environment Minister made a disrespectful remark in regard to the construction of interim storage facilities for contaminated soil taken from the 2011 nuclear accident-affected areas. Asked by reporters about negotiations with candidate local governments to host the facilities, Ishihara said that local residents could be “conciliated with money in the end”. Following his remark, no-confidence and censure motions against Ishihara were submitted to the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors respectively.
Past related article:
> Ichida raps environment minister for insulting Fukushima victims by making gaffe [June 18, 2014]
