Japan minister sorry for using state car for ‘sexy yoga’
TOKYO: Japan’s education minister apologised yesterday for using an official car to visit a yoga studio, but denied claims that the facility was offering “sexy private yoga”.
The Shukan Bunshun weekly magazine yesterday reported that Education Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi visited a yoga studio here using a state car, and took private lessons there.
“I apologise for creating confusion amid a tense parliamentary situation. I should have drawn a line between the public and the private, even though this case was in line with rules.”
Ministers were permitted to use government vehicles for private use in between public engagements, local media said.
The magazine described the yoga studio as a “sexy private yoga” studio run by a former porn actress that offers private lessons and oil massages.
But Hayashi said he was simply taking “regular yoga lessons and massages with finger pressure” for better health.
The president of the yoga studio has denied that she was ever a porn actress, and is demanding a correction and an apology from the magazine.
Support for Abe’s government has flagged due to two cronyism scandals and criticism of the way the Finance Ministry has handled claims that its top bureaucrat sexually harassed female reporters.
Around half of voters disapprove of Abe’s administration, polls published on Monday found.