Japan's #MeToo: senior bureaucrat resigns over sexual misconduct allegations

Japan’s most senior finance ministry bureaucrat has resigned over allegations of sexual misconduct, in what is being described as the country’s #MeToo moment.

Junichi Fukuda, the vice minister of finance, said he would quit after a weekly magazine published allegations he had sexually harassed a female reporter.

Fukuda’s resignation will come as a further embarrassment to the prime minister, Shinzo Abe, who is struggling to contain a cronyism scandal that centres on finance ministry officials.

Fukuda has denied allegations carried in last week’s Weekly Shincho magazine that he sexually harassed a reporter in a bar.

The magazine, which also released an audio clip of the incident, claimed he told the journalist he wanted to kiss her. “I’ll tie up your hands. Can I touch your breasts?” a voice allegedly belonging to Fukuda is heard saying on the recording. “Shall we have an affair once the budget is approved?”

The magazine alleged Fukuda made similarly inappropriate remarks to other female journalists covering the ministry.

The finance minister, Taro Aso, drew widespread criticism for resisting calls to sack Fukuda, who initially said he would launch a libel suit against the magazine.

On Wednesday, Fukuda said he would step down because the allegations were affecting his ability to do his job. He told reporters he could not confirm if it was his voice in the audio clip. “But at least I have no recollection of making an outrageous conversation like that,” he said. “I am not aware of making any remark that could be taken as sexual harassment.”

The finance ministry has launched an investigation and urged the alleged victim to come forward so it can determine if Fukuda was guilty of sexual misconduct.

Aso, who conceded the remarks on the audio were unacceptable, said Fukuda could not be accused of sexual misconduct until the unnamed female reporter, an employee of the private broadcaster TV Asahi, comes forward.

“Because no victim has come out, only the wrongdoer has been put on the spot and it’s a one-sided story,” Aso said. “Fukuda could be the victim instead of a wrongdoer.”

In another allegation of sexual impropriety, the governor of Niigata prefecture, Ryuichi Yoneyama, said he would resign over claims in another magazine that he had paid money and given gifts to women with whom he had sex after meeting them on an internet dating site.

Yoneyama, who is single, insisted he had not paid for sex with the women, but acknowledged his actions could “look to some like prostitution”.

His resignation could create confusion over contentious plans to restart a nuclear power plant in his prefecture. Yoneyama has said he will resist the restart of two reactors at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa – the world’s biggest nuclear power plant – until a prefectural panel has completed its investigation into the cause of the March 2011 triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Both plants are operated by Tokyo Electric Power.

The #MeToo movement has been slow to gain traction in Japan, where victims are often reluctant to speak out. But criticism of how the country’s authorities handle allegations of sexual harassment and violence has risen since last year, when Shiori Ito, a journalist, claimed she had been raped by a high-profile TV journalist with close ties to Shinzo Abe.

The police suddenly dropped their investigation into the case and Ito is now suing her alleged attacker, Noriyuki Yamaguchi, in a civil lawsuit.

She claims Yamaguchi raped her in a hotel room in 2015 after they had met for a meal and drinks to discuss a job opportunity. She alleges Yamaguchi dragged her to the hotel room and sexually assaulted her after she passed out while they were dining.