A group of female lawmakers of the Social Democratic Party submitted a written request Tuesday to the office of Liberal Party member Shingo Nishimura, demanding he immediately resign over recent remarks that led to his resignation from his post as Defense Agency parliamentary vice minister.
"When we went to (Nishimura's) office, his secretary just repeated to us what Nishimura had said (in the magazine interview)," SDP Upper House member Mizuho Fukushima later told reporters. The request was made under the signatures of 10 female Diet lawmakers of the SDP and 124 female members of local assemblies.
In an interview with the Weekly Playboy last month, Nishimura likened the concept of exercising the nation's collective defense rights to the obligation for a man to save a woman if he witnesses her being raped.
"So I said to an SDP lawmaker (who remains opposed to Japan exercising its rights to collective defense) that I would never save you even if you were being raped," Nishimura said in the interview.
Such comments, as well as remarks urging Japan to consider having nuclear weapons, led to his resignation from the Defense Agency post Oct. 20, only 15 days after his appointment.
SDP Lower House member Kiyomi Tsujimoto, whom Nishimura's remarks in the magazine reportedly targeted, claims Nishimura has shown no sign of regret. "I am disgusted to see him still justifying what he said even after his resignation," Tsujimoto told a press conference Tuesday.
Tsujimoto also criticized Liberal Party leader Ichiro Ozawa for having recommended Nishimura as a new director of the Lower House Judicial Affairs Committee.