A July 10, 2020 record examining a WiLL magazine report that Jun Azumi of Japan’s Constitutional Democratic Party called for an extension of the Diet session while arranging a private closing-night party in advance.
The article also contrasted his criticism of Hiromu Kurokawa’s gambling mahjong with allegations concerning Azumi’s own conduct, raising broader questions about political hypocrisy and media double standards.

July 10, 2020
The Closing-Night Party Behind the “Don’t Stop the Diet” Campaign: Jun Azumi’s Contradictions and the Double Standards of the Opposition and the Media
The following is taken from an article by journalist Takayuki Hikawa published in the monthly magazine WiLL under the title “How Many Tongues Does His Excellency Azumi Have?”
Tourism was one of the industries most severely damaged by the COVID-19 crisis.
It was entirely natural for the government of the time, one of the most competent administrations in modern Japanese history, to attempt to support and revive the tourism industry at an early stage.
The objections repeatedly raised by the opposition parties ultimately did little more than push people working in tourism into even deeper hardship.
People capable of seeing the true nature of events must have felt this instinctively.
At the time, I believed that Kensuke Ogoshi was one of the individuals exercising considerable influence over NHK’s news division.
Ogoshi and Jun Azumi of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan entered NHK at around the same period, while Yoshio Arima, who presented News Watch 9, joined several years later.
I had also raised questions about whether these personal connections had any relationship to NHK’s reporting stance.
People who watched NHK’s News Watch 9 without questioning its presentation could easily have been left with the impression that the government had simply passed work to outside organizations and that Dentsu had extracted enormous intermediary profits.
However, Takayuki Hikawa’s reporting demonstrated the danger of repeating opposition politicians’ assertions without adequately examining their own conduct.
I had repeatedly expressed deep disappointment that Jun Azumi and Noriko Ishigaki represented Miyagi Prefecture, the place of my birth.
Voters also bear a responsibility to examine the words and actions of the politicians they elect.
The following is Hikawa’s report that Azumi, while publicly demanding a substantial extension of the Diet session, had already arranged a closing-night party.
Hikawa also introduced testimony from an individual connected with the Constitutional Democratic Party concerning Azumi, who had strongly condemned former Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office chief Hiromu Kurokawa for gambling during mahjong games.
These claims are recorded here as statements contained in Hikawa’s article and as testimony attributed to people appearing in that article.
The “Little Gangster” Who Scheduled a Closing-Night Drinking Party While Demanding an Extension of the Diet Session
The Great Lies of His Excellency Azumi
On June 17, the ordinary session of the National Diet concluded after a 150-day term.
That evening, a Spanish restaurant near the TBS headquarters in Akasaka, Tokyo, had been reserved for a private gathering.
Inside, a group of approximately twenty men and women enjoyed prosciutto and paella in a friendly atmosphere, apparently unconcerned about avoiding the “three Cs” of closed spaces, crowded places, and close-contact settings.
At the center of the gathering was Jun Azumi, the Constitutional Democratic Party’s Diet affairs chief, known by the nickname “the little gangster.”
He appeared delighted as a favored female party employee poured beer for him.
With his face flushed and surrounded by female employees, Azumi reportedly joked:
“It’s going to get crowded today.”
The event was a closing party attended by Diet affairs officials and employees from the joint parliamentary group that included the Constitutional Democratic Party.
According to the article, the gathering was held because Azumi strongly wanted it to take place.
However, one Constitutional Democratic Party lawmaker who attended reportedly expressed discomfort:
“Chairman Azumi was running a campaign demanding an extension of the Diet session, while the closing party had already been scheduled for the final day a week in advance. He probably had no real intention of extending the session.”
Nine days earlier, Azumi had spoken passionately to reporters at the Diet:
“If a second or third wave of COVID-19 infections arrives, will the public accept a situation in which plenary sessions and committee meetings cannot be opened?”
He demanded a substantial extension of the Diet session and announced plans for a social-media campaign encouraging people to post with the hashtag “Don’t Stop the Diet.”
Behind the scenes, however, the article reported that Azumi had instructed party employees to organize an internal closing party and reserve the Spanish restaurant.
Party employees reportedly told lawmakers:
“Please keep the party confidential. We will not prepare a written invitation.”
Approximately thirty thousand people are said to have taken Azumi’s call seriously and posted messages using the hashtag.
If Azumi himself had already planned a party on the assumption that the Diet would close, would the public find his conduct acceptable?
This was not the only aspect of Azumi’s behavior questioned by Hikawa.
When reports emerged that former Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office chief Hiromu Kurokawa had participated in gambling mahjong, Azumi declared:
“It is no longer possible for him to fulfill the responsibilities of the chief public prosecutor. He is unqualified to lead an organization and should resign immediately.”
Azumi also strongly pursued Prime Minister Abe’s responsibility:
“If the retirement age of a person who gambles during mahjong games was extended, what possible reason could there be for saying that he was indispensable?”
However, another Constitutional Democratic Party lawmaker was quoted in the article as saying:
“Azumi is a habitual participant in gambling golf. He also loves mahjong. It is astonishing that he can put his own behavior aside and condemn someone else so severely.”
This was testimony attributed to an anonymous source, and it alone does not conclusively establish the facts.
Nevertheless, when a public official imposes an extremely strict moral standard on others, that person has a responsibility to apply the same standard to himself and answer legitimate questions.
The article further reported that Azumi had been seen inviting female party employees out for drinks even during the state of emergency, when the public was being asked to refrain from going out.
The public was asked to avoid unnecessary outings and group meals.
In the Diet, Azumi demanded an extension of the session and urged the public to join the “Don’t Stop the Diet” campaign.
At the same time, he allegedly prepared a closing-night party in advance and joked that the gathering would become crowded.
He condemned another person’s gambling mahjong as conduct unworthy of an organizational leader.
Yet he did not adequately answer allegations made by people within his own party regarding his own gambling activities.
When the words of politicians become this light and inconsistent, it is only natural that the public loses trust in politics.
The issue is not merely one party or the conduct of one opposition lawmaker.
It also concerns media organizations that extensively report the opposition’s criticism of the government while failing to investigate the opposition politician’s own contradictions.
Criticizing the government is an important duty of the press.
However, treating opposition statements as inherently righteous while applying strict standards only to the governing parties is not the monitoring of power.
It approaches political activity in support of a particular party.
The public does not need reporting that selects facts according to political affiliation.
It needs reporting that applies the same standards to both the government and the opposition.
Did the politician who urged the public not to allow the Diet to stop truly want the session to be extended?
Did the politician who fiercely condemned another person’s gambling apply the same ethical standard to himself?
The importance of Takayuki Hikawa’s article extends beyond Jun Azumi as an individual.
It revealed the double standard of opposition politicians who proclaim a noble public cause while acting very differently behind the scenes, and of major media organizations that refuse to scrutinize those contradictions with equal severity.
To be continued.