TOKYO — A senior aide to Japan’s prime minister is being dismissed after making discriminatory remarks about LGBTQ individuals.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida instructed reporters Saturday that Masayoshi Arai, a secretary at his workplace, was being dismissed after Arai just lately instructed Japanese media he didn’t like seeing LGBTQ individuals. Arai had retracted his feedback and apologized on Friday.

Kishida mentioned the remarks run counter to the administration’s place on selling range.

“Taking robust motion is inevitable,” Kishida mentioned with out offering additional particulars, which means Arai could depart voluntarily.

Arai’s remarks prompted an outburst of protest and had been the newest in a string of gaffes by Japanese officers which have landed them in hassle.

Saving face is vital in conformist Japan, the place prejudice in opposition to LGBTQ individuals, racial teams, ladies and different nationalities persist.

Japan is the one Group of Seven nation that doesn’t acknowledge same-sex marriage, however the motion towards recognition has been rising.

Kishida’s administration has been hit by a number of scandals just lately, and its recognition is shaky.

Numerous Japanese officers have resigned over time over feedback they made.

A justice minister stepped down final 12 months after joking about capital punishment.

In 2021, Yoshiro Mori resigned as head of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee after saying ladies talked an excessive amount of. Mori had been gaffe-prone when he earlier served as prime minister, about 20 years in the past.

A minister in control of cybersecurity who acknowledged he had infrequently used a pc resigned in 2019.

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Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter https://twitter.com/yurikageyama