Kishida To Testify In Open Hearing Before Lower House Ethics Panel Thursday

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will face the parliamentary panel on political ethics on Friday to provide explanations over the political kickbacks scandal haunting the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The hearing will be attended by the media after a tug-of-war over their admission resulted in a slight delay to the meeting.

• Jiji reported that "Kishida's offer is believed to be aimed at encouraging five Lower House members from the LDP who have offered to face the political ethics panel over the scandal to also accept such open hearings" and at breaking the deadlock in negotiations with opposition parties over the proceedings.
• Kishida is the first sitting Prime Minister to appear before the panel, which was last convened in 2009. His hearing will be held after the Upper House ethics committee met for the first time ever on Tuesday. The deliberations on ethics hearings have been hindering the LDP's plan to smoothly pass the new budget.