Kawamura Offers to Quit Conservative Party of Japan

Tokyo, Oct. 8 (Jiji Press)–House of Representatives lawmaker Takashi Kawamura submitted on Wednesday a letter of resignation from the opposition Conservative Party of Japan to the party’s leader, Naoki Hyakuta. “It was very difficult to close the gap between us over how to expand the party,” Kawamura, 76, told a press conference held at the Diet, or Japanese parliament, noting that his conflicts with party members including Hyakuta are the reason for his decision to leave the party. Kawamura, elected to the Lower House from the No. 1 constituency of the central prefecture of Aichi, reported to the chamber that he had disbanded the Lower House caucus “Conservative Party of Japan” and formed a new one with Yuko Takegami, a lawmaker in the lower chamber, who earlier submitted a letter of resignation from the party. The conflicts between Hyakuta an Kawamura have been intensifying. In September, Hyakuta notified Kawamura, former mayor of Nagoya, the capital of Aichi, that he would be dismissed from the position of co-leader of the party. Earlier this month, Kawamura filed a criminal complaint with the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office that Hyakuta had thrown a plastic bottle at him. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]