In the latest potential headache for Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, a weekly magazine plans to publish photographs of Mori with a man allegedly linked to a crime syndicate in an edition that will hit newsstands this week.
The decision to run the photographs has already drawn protests from the prime minister's aides.
An advance copy of the Weekly Gendai magazine shows two pictures of Mori and a man the magazine claims is a former member of a violent rightwing group who, it says, has served time in prison for murder. The magazine did not name the man.
The magazine says the pictures were taken in Osaka, when Mori was secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda, who has see the forthcoming copy of the magazine, said Mori may have agreed to be photographed with the man, but he does not remember him.
"An article (in the magazine) suggesting Mori had a special relationship (with the man) is extremely regrettable," Fukuda told a regular news conference.
"Politicians meet many people and we pose for pictures with them if asked to do so," the government's top spokesman said. "I don't think the photographs pose any problems."
Mori's lawyer has filed a complaint with the publisher and a letter was sent Friday warning the company that the prime minister will take legal action if the magazine goes ahead and publishes the article, Fukuda said.
The Weekly Gendai said in a statement that it is an "abuse of power" by the prime minister to pressure a publisher about an article yet to be published.