The Cabinet is dealing with another headache after a right-leaning Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker sparked renewed outrage in Okinawa by accusing authorities there of rabble-rousing during a recent visit by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Minoru Kihara, who was dismissed last week as head of the LDP's Youth Division, was quoted accusing the Okinawa Prefectural Government of having "mobilized" hecklers to interrupt Abe as he spoke at a ceremony on June 23 to mark the 70th anniversary of the cessation of fighting there in World War II.
"I've seen many ceremonies and rallies, so I can say that they were obviously mobilized," Kihara was quoted as saying by local daily Okinawa Times, citing Internet video website Channel Sakura.