Yamada, who was parliamentary vice education minister, became the first among Kishida's Cabinet, senior vice or parliamentary vice ministers to resign since he reshuffled his Cabinet in September. "My actions lacked self-awareness...I want to avoid obstructing parliamentary deliberations," Yamada told reporters, while denying he would step down as a lawmaker. The Bunshun Online report, also carried by Thursday's Shukan Bunshun weekly, said that Yamada, who has a wife and daughter, spent around three hours with a woman at a hotel in Tokyo on Thursday last week, a day before the extraordinary Diet session was convened.
While Yamada admitted to the affair, he denied the magazine's allegation that he had paid money to the woman. Opposition parties are set to grill Kishida over the scandal during the ongoing Diet session, with his Cabinet's approval ratings already at the lowest levels since it was launched in October 2021, amid public frustration over surging prices. The government replaced Yamada with female LDP upper house member Akiko Honda after Kishida was criticized for not appointing a woman to a senior or parliamentary vice ministerial position in his latest Cabinet reshuffle.