The governing Liberal Democratic Party has decided to forgo fielding disabled celebrity author Hirotada Ototake in the Upper House election this summer after revelations that he committed adultery, a party executive said Wednesday.
Ototake, who was born without limbs, acknowledged the adultery allegations made recently by the weekly Shukan Shincho magazine and apologized on his official website.
He acknowledged the woman he went on an overseas trip with last December was his mistress and that they were in a sexual relationship, explaining he initiated the affair to "seek comfort" after his marriage slipped into a rut.
Ototake also revealed to the magazine that he has had inappropriate relationships with five different women in total, including the mistress in question, since his eldest son was born eight years ago.
The LDP had considered running Ototake, 39, as a candidate for the House of Councilors election from the Tokyo constituency. The party saw him as a candidate who could exemplify Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's goal of creating a "society in which all 100 million people in the nation can play active roles."
Since the success of his best-selling 1998 autobiography "Gotai Fumanzoku" (No One's Perfect), Ototake has often appeared on TV, making humorous comments about obstacles that disabled people face.
