National News Cabinet member exits after tryst is exposed

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Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshitada Konoike resigned May 13 for "personal reasons" after a magazine hit newsstands with a full account of a trip he and a lover took to a hot-spring resort, during which he used a special JR pass that lets Diet members ride the shinkansen for free.

Shukan Shincho exposed the three-day rendezvous between the married Konoike and a woman at the Atami resort in Shizuoka Prefecture, where they played golf and dined in high style from April 28 to 30. That was around the time the government started scrambling to deal with swine flu concerns.

The magazine said he used a free JR pass for Diet members that is supposed to be used only for official duties and quotes the 68-year-old Konoike as admitting to both having an affair with the woman and to using the train pass for the trip. (The Japan Times)

密会報道後、鴻池官房副長官が辞任

鴻池祥肇官房副長官は5月13日、週刊誌が女性とJRの無料パスを使って温泉へ旅行していたことを報じた後、辞任を表明した。

Shukan ST: May 22, 2009

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