Japanese politician gets caught watching crocodile video during Diet session

Japan Today -- May 18

During a House of Representatives Cabinet Committee meeting on May 13, Takuya Hirai, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, was photographed watching a video of a crocodile on his tablet. Unsurprisingly, the video was not at all related to the meeting’s topic, which was about the retirement age for prosecutors.

When questioned by the press, Hirai claimed he had only been watching the video for “about one or two seconds”, but it has been reported that he was actually watching the video for about five minutes. The incident is reported to have happened just nine minutes after the meeting had begun, while two other politicians were in the middle of a question and answer session. “The video just appeared and started playing while I was listening [to the other politicians],” Hirai commented.