Japan PM Kishida criticizes ruling party’s scantily-clad dancer event

• Leaked footage showed women in swimwear sitting on participants’ laps.
• One organizer resigned from the party.
• Organizer Tetsuya Kawabata defended the event, stating it was meant to ensure “diversity”.

Last November, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida slammed a gathering of ruling party members that involved scantily clad dancers, organized by a chapter of the Liberal Democratic Party. Reports revealed that leaked footage showed women in swimwear sitting on participants’ laps. When grilled by lawmakers on Friday, Mr. Kishida deemed the event “highly inappropriate and most regrettable.

At least one of the event organizers has since resigned from the party. According to local media reports, the women, who reportedly belong to the Osaka and Kyoto-based Glamor Dancers troupe, were asked to use their mouths to receive banknotes hanging from participants’ mouths. Members of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)’s youth division in the western city of Wakayama attended the event.

Earlier, one of the organizers, Tetsuya Kawabata, sought to defend the event by stating that the presence of the “go-go dancers” – referring to dancers employed to entertain crowds in nightclubs – was intended to ensure “diversity”.

“We invited the dancers after studying from various viewpoints, including whether it matches the theme of diversity,” Mr Kawabata, deputy head of the local LDP youth wing, told Japanese broadcaster All-Nippon News Network.

Reports quoted Mr. Kawabata as saying the gathering sparked “excitement that… exceeded my expectations”. He has now reportedly resigned from the party. The LDP’s nationwide youth wing had apologized and announced that two other MPs who attended the event would step down from their posts in the division.

On Wednesday, Mr. Kishida stated that the event did not “match the cabinet’s goal of diversity”.

“What my cabinet seeks is an inclusive society where all people feel the meaning of life with their dignity and diversity respected,” local media reports quoted him as saying.

He added that the participants’ membership fees funded the event, not taxpayers’ money.

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