Sep 08 (Japan Times) - Democratic Party lawmaker Shiori Yamao, a prominent adversary of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Diet debates, tendered her resignation from the party Thursday evening amid allegations of an extramarital affair, dealing a heavy blow to the nascent leadership of the struggling opposition.
"I'm deeply sorry my misleading behavior caused trouble to many people," a somber Yamao told a hastily arranged news conference in Tokyo.
"I've decided to leave the party to avoid bringing any confusion to the upcoming extraordinary Diet session."
The scandal concerning prosecutor-turned-lawmaker Yamao couldn't come at a worse time, as Seiji Maehara, elected the DP president on Sept. 1, tries to hold together a party bedeviled by an exodus of lawmakers. The party also braces for key triple by-elections - largely considered a barometer of the next Lower House election - in October.
On Thursday, weekly tabloid Shukan Bunshun carried an article alleging that 43-year-old mother Yamao had been seeing Rintaro Kuramochi, a 34-year-old lawyer who is also married, meeting in secret about four times a week.
The magazine alleged that Yamao and Kuramochi stayed together at an upscale Tokyo hotel through the morning of Sept. 3 - just after Maehara became the new party leader.
Facing reporters, Yamao denied she was in a relationship with Kuramochi, insisting that she stayed at the hotel by herself. Once she read out a prepared statement, Yamao cut short the news conference, without so much as a single response to the barrage of questions from reporters as she hurried off into a waiting car.
