In today’s day and age, shameless politicians are a dime a dozen. Scandal doesn’t necessarily bring down an officeholder like it used to.
Yet some scandals, it seems, are still impossible to survive. One politician in Tokyo found that out this week the hard way.
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ToggleA Promising Start
Kinoshita Fumiko (木下富美子) is a native of Nagoya and a graduate of the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. According to Wikipedia, she’s fluent in both English and Spanish and holds a tour guide certification for English.
After spending around 26 years working for advertising firm Hakuhoudou, Kinoshita entered Tokyo governor Koike Yuriko’s “cram school” for prospective new politicians. In 2017, she ran as part of Koike’s Tokyo People First (都民ファースト) party and won her first term in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly representing Tokyo’s Itabashi Ward. She served on several committees, including the Tokyo Urban Development and Gender Equality Committees.
All seemed well and good…until her re-election in the July election.
Reckless Driving…During the Election
On July 4th 2021, won enough votes to place 3rd and gain herself a second term in Tokyo’s Metropolitan Assembly. But her victory wouldn’t last long.
On July 2nd, while in the midst of campaigning and preparing for the election, Kinoshita caused a traffic accident involving a Tokyo couple. According to the 50-something male involved in the accident, Kinoshita, who was in front of him, failed to turn in a timely fashion at a traffic signal. When the man honked his horn, Kinoshita, in a panic, backed her car into him.
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Kinoshita promptly attempted to flee the scene. The other driver had to race to stop her. Once he caught up with her, he called the police.
Most people, in this situation, would stay at the scene. And you’d think a politician would have the good sense to stay. However, it turns out there’s a good reason that Kinoshita tried to flee: she didn’t have a driver’s license. Despite having a suspended license, Kinoshita kept driving. An analysis of traffic cameras caught Kinoshita driving at least seven times while suspended.
Kinoshita’s One-Woman Political Party

Already, Kinoshita’s story is pretty remarkable. What’s more remarkable, however, is that she initially refused to resign.
When reporters broke news of the accident in July, Kinoshita told the press that it was just a tiny little thing. A simple misunderstanding that would be cleared up in due course. Regarding her suspended license, Kinoshita said that she “mistakenly” thought her suspension period had ended.
Unfortunately for Kinoshita, Governor Koike and the Tokyo People’s First Party didn’t see it that way. On the same day the news broke, the party announced it was ejecting Kinoshita from its ranks.
Did that stop Kinoshita? Oh, you know it didn’t! In a display of iron will, the beleaguered politician declared she was starting a new political party, SDGs Tokyo. “SDG” stands for Sustainable Development Goals, a United Nations blueprint for peace and prosperity. “SDGs” have become something of a buzzword in Japanese political and social activism circles, so it’s not surprising that Kinoshita would try and borrow some of that cred.
Later in July, the full Tokyo Metropolitan voted to compel Kinoshita to resign. It didn’t work. In September, Kinoshita published a blub on her Web site insisting she’d continue doing her job.
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Except…she wasn’t really doing her job. Kinoshita failed to attend multiple sessions of the Assembly amidst the controversy.
Finally, a Resignation

Nothing happened in the case for a while. Then, this month, the Tokyo prosecutor announced they would try Kinoshita on charges of driving without a license. Once again, other politicians in Tokyo called for her resignation.
At first, Kinoshita was her usual defiant self. She insisted that “some people” were encouraging her to continue serving in the Assembly.
This week, however, Koike Yuriko returned to full-time office duties after recuperating from exhaustion. And Koike, brought the hammer down. After making it clear publicly that she thought Kinoshita should resign, she called the beleaguered politician in for a private meeting. According to reporters, the meeting lasted 20 minutes, and Koike made it clear she thought Kinoshita needed to focus on rehabilitating her image.
The next day, Kinoshita – finally – resigned.
However, she didn’t stop causing controversy. In her press conference on the 22nd, she admitted that she knowingly drove without a license. But she and her lawyer continued to complain about her treatment at the hands of the Tokyo Assembly. Additionally, Kinoshita initially claimed that she had “donated” three months of salary as an assemblyperson to an unnamed organization supporting women and kids. However, at the end of her presser, she said she was still “considering” what to do with her November pay.
According to the magazine Friday, despite her resignation, the Tokyo Government Office has received roughly 6,000 complaints regarding Kinoshita’s behavior.
Conclusion
It’s long been a maxim of electoral politics that politicians, whatever power or wealth they may hold, should obey the same laws and standards that ordinary citizens do. There are plenty of exceptions to this rule – especially in today’s post-Trump age of rising authoritarian politics.
However, scandal isn’t dead. Just ask the IT chief in Japan who couldn’t use a computer. Or the Tokyo Olympics official who said women make meetings longer.
It’s hard to find any satisfaction in this case, though. Japan lags most developed nations in the number of women serving in political office. Kinoshita could have helped fill that void. Instead, she now faces an arduous rehabilitation run and media blitz if she ever hopes to occupy elected office again.