Japan finance official quits over alleged sexual misconduct

A senior Japanese finance ministry official resigned Wednesday after being accused of sexual misconduct in the latest embarrassment for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's embattled government, already hit by cronyism and other scandals.

Vice Finance Minister Junichi Fukuda denied the allegations but submitted his resignation, citing difficulties carrying out his duties because of escalating criticism and attention.

Japan's Vice Finance Minister Junichi Fukuda, center, bows after he announced his resignation to the reporters at the ministry in Tokyo Wednesday, April 18, 2018. (Kenzaburo Fukuhara/Kyodo News via AP)

Last week, the Weekly Shincho magazine published sexually suggestive remarks that Fukuda allegedly made to an unidentified female reporter earlier this year. The magazine released parts of what it said was an audio recording of Fukuda's remarks, and alleged that he routinely made similar comments to female reporters in private conversations.

The finance ministry is urging the alleged victim to come forward so it can hear from both sides in its investigation to determine whether there was sexual misconduct. Women's rights groups and lawmakers have accused the investigators of lacking sensitivity and privacy awareness, and demanded that Fukuda's boss, Finance Minister Taro Aso, also step down.

Japan's Finance Minister Taro Aso looks at an article of weekly magazine at a financial committee of the lower house in Tokyo Wednesday, April 18, 2018. A top Japanese finance ministry official has resigned over sexual misconduct allegations. (Toshiyuki Matsumoto/Kyodo News via AP)

Aso has said the voice sounded like Fukuda's, and the comments might once have passed unquestioned but are now not acceptable. But he added that Fukuda could not be held accountable for sexual misconduct until the remarks' context and the alleged victim are known.

"Because no victim has come out, there is only a wrongdoer who has been put on the spot and it's a one-sided story," Aso said. "Fukuda could be the victim instead of a wrongdoer."

Late Wednesday, TV Asahi announced that the woman was its reporter and had recorded the conversation as evidence. It said she provided the recording to the magazine after her own boss said it would be difficult to report the incident on the TV network. It did not release the reporter's name.

Japan's Vice Finance Minister Junichi Fukuda, center, leaves his ministry in Tokyo Wednesday, April 18, 2018. The top Japanese finance ministry official has resigned over sexual misconduct allegations.  (Yoshitaka Sugawara/Kyodo News via AP)

A TV Asahi official told a news conference that it regretted how the reporter's complaint had been handled and said the network plans to lodge a protest with the finance ministry over sexual harassment.

Fukuda told reporters that he couldn't tell if the voice in the recording was his. "But at least I have no recollection of making an outrageous conversation like that," he added. "I am not aware of making any remark that could be taken as sexual harassment."

In the alleged conversation, the man described as Fukuda says "I want to kiss you" and repeatedly asks questions such as "Can I touch your breasts?" and "Can I tie your hands behind your back?"

Fukuda acknowledged having regular one-on-one meetings with members of the finance ministry press club — most of whom work for major Japanese newspapers and broadcast companies — but denied making such remarks. He did not rule out having slightly sexual conversations, or "word play," with bar hostesses after work.

He said he planned to file a defamation suit against the magazine, which is expected to publish a follow-up story on Thursday. The magazine has said it stands by its reporting.

Fukuda said he regretted causing trouble for his already embattled ministry, which has also been hit by a cronyism scandal linked to Abe's wife. Another senior finance official earlier stepped down and a third ministry official committed suicide over document tampering related to the questionable purchase of state land by a ultra-nationalistic school that Abe's wife briefly served as honorary principal.

Abe himself faces another scandal involving alleged favorable treatment given to a friend who opened a veterinary college, and accusations of mishandling of documents at the finance ministry and several other ministries.

The mounting scandals have called into question Abe's chances of securing a third term as party leader this September, which seemed assured earlier this year, and could even force him to step down before the leadership race.

Separately, a governor in northern Japan resigned Wednesday over a magazine report that he had paid money and given gifts to women whom he met on internet dating sites.

Ryuichi Yoneyama, governor of Niigata, acknowledged the money and gifts but said he was in relationships with the women and was not buying sex. The 50-year-old lawyer and doctor is single.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Israel-Hamas war demonstrations at the University of Mississippi turned ugly this week when one counter-protester appeared to make monkey noises and gestures at a Black student in a raucous gathering that was endorsed by a far-right congressman from Georgia.

“Ole Miss taking care of business,” Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Collins wrote Friday on the social platform X with a with a link to the video showing the racist jeers.

The Associated Press left voicemail messages for Collins on Friday at his offices in Georgia and Washington and sent an email to his spokesperson, asking for an explanation of what Collins meant. There was no immediate response.

The taunting brought sharp criticism on and off campus.

“Students were calling for an end to genocide. They were met with racism,” James M. Thomas, a sociology professor at the University of Mississippi, wrote Friday on X.

The Rev. Cornell William Brooks, a former president and CEO of the NAACP and professor at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, wrote on X that a white man mocking a Black woman as a monkey “isn’t about ‘Stand With Israel’ or ‘Free Palestine.’ This is protest as performative racism.”

Collins was first elected to Congress in 2022 and made several social media posts criticizing campus protests.

Nobody was arrested during the demonstration Thursday at the University of Mississippi, where hecklers vastly outnumbered war protesters. According to a count by AP, more than 2,400 arrests have occurred on 46 U.S. university or college campuses since April 17 during demonstrations against the war.

The student newspaper, The Daily Mississippian, reported about 30 protesters on the Oxford campus billed themselves as UMiss for Palestine. Videos and photos from the event showed the protesters were in a grassy area near the main library, blocked off by barriers erected by campus security.

They chanted “Free, free Palestine," and carried Palestinian flags and signs with slogans including, “Stop the Genocide" and “U.S. bombs take Palestine lives.”

Student journalist Stacey J. Spiehler shot video that showed campus police officers and the dean of students standing between anti-war protesters and hecklers. After the Black woman protesting the war had what appeared to be a heated exchange of words with several white hecklers, one of the men made the monkey gestures and noises at her.

About 76% of the university's students were white and about 11% were Black in 2022-23, the most recent data available on the school's website.

University of Mississippi Chancellor Glenn Boyce said the school is committed to people expressing their views. He said some statements made on campus Thursday were “offensive and unacceptable."

In another statement Friday, Boyce said one “student conduct investigation” had been opened and university leaders were “working to determine whether more cases are warranted.”

“To be clear, people who say horrible things to people because of who they are will not find shelter or comfort on this campus,” he said.

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves reposted a video on X that showed counter-protesters on the campus singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

“Warms my heart,” Reeves wrote. “I love Mississippi!”

In this photo taken from video provided by Stacey J. Spiehler, a pro-Palestinian protester is confronted by hecklers at the University of Mississippi, Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Oxford, Miss. The hecklers vastly outnumbered pro-Palestine demonstrators and video shot by a student journalist showed one white heckler making monkey gestures and noises at a Black woman who was supporting pro-Palestine protesters. (Stacey J. Spiehler via AP)

University of Mississippi student and counter-protester Connor Moore, center, taunts graduate student Jaylin R. Smith with a piece of bread during a protest in support of Palestinians on Thursday, May 2, 2024, outside the J.D. Williams Library on the school campus in Oxford, Miss. (HG Biggs/The Clarion-Ledger via AP)

In this photo taken from video provided by Stacey J. Spiehler, hecklers shout at a pro-Palestinian protester at the University of Mississippi, Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Oxford, Miss. The hecklers vastly outnumbered pro-Palestine demonstrators and video shot by a student journalist showed one white heckler making monkey gestures and noises at a Black woman who was supporting pro-Palestinian protesters. (Stacey J. Spiehler via AP)