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Japan's prime minister Fumio Kishida has announced that he will remove his son from the role of Prime Minister's Secretary, after pictures of him misusing the prime minister's residence emerged.

Year end party

Kishida's son, Shotaro Kishida, was appointed as policy secretary in October 2022, according to Japan Today.

According to the Associated Press, Japanese magazine Shukan Bunshun published pictures in May 2023 of Shotaro misusing facilities at the official prime minister's residence, a nearly 100-year-old building that was previously the prime minister's office.

In December 2022, Shotaro held a year-end party for several people including relatives at the official residence.

During the party, they took pictures where the group stood on the red carpeted stairs of the residence, in an imitation of pictures of newly appointed government cabinets.

PM Kishida: Today I reshuffled my cabinet and launched a new administration. I am calling this new cabinet the "cabinet that carries out policies decisively." Tasked with addressing emergencies, it will overcome the crises now facing us that are said to occur (1/2) pic.twitter.com/l4LKq0VIBp

— PM's Office of Japan (@JPN_PMO) August 10, 2022

Shotaro apparently took the central position, usually reserved for the prime minister. He was also pictured lounging on the stairs.

https://twitter.com/dascrazyjapan/status/1663017368144969729

The group also took pictures standing at official podiums, imitating a news conference.

Kishida confirmed that he had met the group briefly, greeting them but not joining them for the party.

Criticised for nepotism previously

Kishida was criticised for nepotism for the appointment of his son at the time. AP says that the appointment was seen as part of setting Shotaro up as Kishida's heir, a promotion from being Kishida's private secretary.

Shotaro has previously come under fire for how he has used his official position, being previously criticised for using Japanese embassy cars to go sightseeing while on foreign trips, although Japan Today said that the government justified it by saying that Shotaro used the vehicle to aid his father, by taking pictures for his social media accounts and purchasing gifts on Kishida's behalf.

Kishida, as quoted by Nikkei, said that his son's conduct in the official residence was "inappropriate for a person in an official position", and that he had decided to replace him for that reason.

Japan Today quoted an opposition politician as saying that the resignation was "natural" as the appointment itself had a strong element of intermingling public and private interests", and another who said that Shotaro "should have acted with awareness of his position".

This incident comes as Kishida's government had expected to gain some positive sentiment after holding a relatively successful G7 conference where amongst other things, Kishida met with South Korea's president Yoon Suk Yeol, as part of warming ties between the two nations.

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Top image via @jpn_pmo/Twitter & @dascrazyjapan/Twitter