Education minister Yoshimasa Hayashi apologized Wednesday after a magazine reported the day prior that he used an official ministry car to visit a "sexy yoga" studio in Tokyo, threatening to add further scandal to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's already embattled government.
The weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun reported Tuesday that Hayashi spent two hours at a studio where a female instructor gives a private yoga lesson and then an oil massage to customers in the capital's Ebisu district on April 16.
The weekly publication said the studio is run by a former porn actress, an allegation the owner denies, and has been shown on TV as a "yoga hostess club" because its instructors are former hostesses and models.