Tsuruho to Quit as Diet Committee Chief over Noto Quake Gaffe

   Tokyo, July 12 (Jiji Press)--Japanese ruling party lawmaker Yosuke Tsuruho plans to resign as chairman of a parliamentary committee to take responsibility for a gaffe about a powerful earthquake that struck the Noto Peninsula in central Japan last year, it was learned Saturday.
   According to a senior official of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Tsuruho is poised to step down from the post of chairman of the Budget Committee in the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, following criticisms of the verbal blunder from both the ruling and opposition sides as well as by people affected by the Jan. 1, 2024, temblor.
   Tsuruho said in the western Japan city of Wakayama on Tuesday, during a campaign speech for an LDP candidate in the July 20 Upper House election, that "it was lucky that the earthquake occurred in Noto."
   The remark came as Tsuruho expressed hopes that the temblor would facilitate dual residency, or a lifestyle in which people have two bases of living--one typically in an urban area and the other in a rural location.
   Tsuruho withdrew the remark and apologized later Tuesday, saying that he lacked consideration for the disaster victims.

(2025/07/12-16:38)

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