A Cabinet minister apologized Tuesday for "causing trouble" after a weekly magazine reported that in 2007 he walked through a dormitory building for Diet members while drunk and naked, and rang the doorbell of a fellow lawmaker's room.
"I'm aware of the article. I humbly reconsider my conduct and apologize once again to the people for whom I have caused trouble," Mitsuhiro Miyakoshi, state minister in charge of Okinawa and Northern Territories affairs, told a news conference when asked about the article published in the weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun.
Miyakoshi, a member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said he will concentrate on his job and will not elaborate further on the incident.
In June 2007, Miyakoshi, not then a member of the Cabinet, drunkenly entered a room other than his own in the Tokyo dormitory used by House of Representatives members who do not maintain a residence in the capital. Upon entering the room, he undressed, according to Shukan Bunshun.
When he realized he was in the wrong room, he walked out naked and rang the doorbell of another lawmaker's room, according to the magazine.
